Yankees’ Gerrit Cole says he has ‘nerve inflammation’ in elbow, won’t throw for 3-4 weeks

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole has revealed more information about his sore throwing elbow.

While speaking to the media Saturday, Cole announced that he’s being shut down from throwing for 3-4 weeks due to inflammation and edema in his right elbow. He didn’t discuss a timeline beyond that, but did clarify that he’s not shut down from everything. He said they plan to “keep the arm live” by doing various exercises.

Cole, 33, is one of those rare iron-man pitchers who seldom gets injured. He’s made at least 30 starts a season since 2017 (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season). And he and the Yankees believe they know why Cole is dealing with this injury.

“I think we determined that we just got a little too hot a little too quick this spring,” Cole said.

Cole, who will avoid Tommy John surgery for now, said that he does not plan to have any platelet-rich plasma injections during his rehab.

It was a long week of waiting for Yankees fans, who first heard that Cole needed an MRI on Monday. News was further delayed after manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday that they were doing additional tests. Interestingly, Cole took responsibility for the extra tests.

Since Cole has been so healthy during his career, we didn’t really know how he handled injuries. But now we know he’s a “let’s do all the tests” kind of guy.

Cole revealed a lot of matter-of-fact information Saturday, but he did let one positive thing slip. After visiting with world-renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, Cole said he felt “good.”

That certainly won’t make Yankees fans feel better about Nestor Cortes and his 4.97 ERA replacing Cole as Opening Day starter, but when a pitcher visits the guy who’s famous for doing Tommy John surgery, “pretty good” is one of the best possible outcomes.