Gerrit Cole, last year’s unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner as best pitcher, will be out at least a month with a right elbow injury, multiple reports said Wednesday.
The 33-year-old right-hander underwent a second MRI exam and will see a specialist in Los Angeles, the New York Post and MLB Network reported.
Cole went 15-4 last season with a 2.63 earned-run average and 222 strikeouts over 209 innings for the Yankees, who went 82-80 last year and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
The Yankees, who last captured the World Series title in 2009, had said Cole would not start on opening day, March 28 this year, as he had for the club the past four seasons.
The reports said no torn ulnar collateral ligament was detected in Cole’s right elbow but he would fly to Los Angeles to meet surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
Concerns began for Cole after he complained of fatigue as if he had thrown 100 pitches following his first pre-season game.
The Yankees said it might be several days before the club made any official announcement regarding a prognosis for Cole because they were seeking opinions from doctors and team medical staff.
“There’s uncertainty about what’s going on in there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “You want to make sure when you’re talking about the elbow. You want to make sure you get it right and make the best decision. We’ve just got to be patient.”
The Yankees also said star slugger Aaron Judge expects to resume swinging a bat later this week after an MRI revealed no injury after he had been experiencing abdominal discomfort for about a week.
The outfielder hopes to be ready to play for the Yankees by their season opener.
