Gerrit Cole is making progress in his rehab since being placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to 7/5 with “right lat soreness” . Wednesday he threw a four inning simulated game prior to the teams series finale against the Dodgers. It was expected to be a 50-60 pitch outing, but Cole felt good enough to add a few more pitches.
“I threw 70 pitches,” Cole said. “Everything was pretty good. I feel good, so we’ll have to gameplan what the next step is. I didn’t ask how many I had to throw. I just kept letting it go. It felt good. I was a little rusty in some areas, but I got better as it went on.”
Not only did Cole go out and throw. He threw his normal routine of pitches which showed some rust that he needs to work off before making his next step.
“I threw everything,” Cole said. “I didn’t throw a ton of breaking balls. I threw some really good ones and some really bad ones. At least I got some good ones off.”
Another positive that came out of the sim game was that he wasn’t holding back and didn’t feel any pain or setbacks from the injury.
“There was no guarding and I wasn’t thinking about it which was good,” Cole said. “I’m in a better position than I was last time at this point in time so, i’m just looking to keep moving forward.”
Cole was placed on the disabled list a month earlier in the season due to “Right shoulder fatigue” and missed 20 days (4 starts). He tried to rush back rather than fully heal which helped lead to the current injury. He has since learned from the mistake and is moving at a slower pace this time.
“Yeah, I felt good coming off the sim games and I was sharp but, coming in against the Mets, there were some things I still needed to clean up and I was able to do it in the four days coming back against the Phillies but, at this point in the year, I can’t come out not sharp and give games away and put us in a hole like I did against the Mets, so it’s important to come back and give quality starts no matter how many they are.”
Cole is not worried how long the rehab process will take this time. He just wants to make sure he is 100% healthy to not only keep himself off of the disabled list again, but to put up good starts to help the Pirates stay in playoff and division contention.
“If it takes longer, so be it,” Cole said. “It’s about winning ballgames at this point and with this division and the opponents that we have, it’s going to come down to the wire and we wouldn’t really want it any other way. There’s no room to feel stuff out on the mound right now.”
The Pirates pitching staff has been able to sustain itself in Cole’s absence going 8-6 since with four starter victories. Between the two stints on the DL, the team is 21-14 with 14 starter victories. This has helped Cole from rushing the rehab process a second time.
“It’s been an interesting road but, I’ve learned a lot about how to handle it and hopefully I won’t have to handle it too many more times in the future so, I just have to keep working and keep moving forward. I guess there’s a light at the end of the tunnel now and I’m just trying not to get ahead of myself.”
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