May 25th, 2026: Cole, Judge, Caballero, Volpe, Weathers, Chisholm, Grisham, Goldschmidt
I can’t say I woke up Sunday expecting the Yankees to start the game on time and play an uninterrupted nine innings, but the rain held off and they played the game without issue. I’m glad they got it in after that finish too. Here now is Tuesday’s post on Monday. I want to enjoy the last day of the holiday weekend and watch the Knicks in peace tonight, so I’m getting this off my plate early.
1. Weekend thoughts. The offense made me want to pull my hair out, but, all things considered, it was a positive weekend for the Yankees. Gerrit Cole was great in his return Friday, Saturday was rained out, and the Yankees walked off with a win Sunday. The rotation continues to be so, so good. Third in ERA (3.08), first in FIP (3.27), second in xERA (3.35), first in WAR (6.8). The Yankees are 5-10 in their last 15 games and eight of the 10 losses were by three runs or fewer. The rotation keeps them in almost every game.
“Any time you can get a win (over) the guys leading the division, it’s a big win,” Cody Bellinger told Gary Phillips after Sunday’s win. “Our pitching did a tremendous job.”
I’m not being a smart ass about the rainout being a positive. The Yankees looked like a team that needed a day. The rainout bought everyone extra rest and also kicked a game with the Rays down the road at the time when they’re playing out of their mind and the Yankees are struggling. The makeup game is scheduled for Sept. 22nd. Max Fried and Giancarlo Stanton should be back by then, the bullpen could be in better shape, there will be trade deadline additions, etc. The rainout was a definite plus. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.
Cole returns
For the first time in 569 days, Gerrit Cole was on the mound in a game that counts Friday. It went about as well as anyone could have hoped: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K on 72 pitches (video). He had a four-pitch walk and a five-pitch walk, which we can probably chalk up to the usual post-elbow surgery control woes. Otherwise Cole had only one three-ball count besides the walks, and he threw a first pitch strike to 18 of 22 batters.
"It was almost like a second debut. It was an enjoyable moment and it was nice to get back in the fire,” Cole said about his return to real games (video). “It was a long road, and yet at some point tonight, it was almost like I’d never left. It felt really, really good to be out there.”
Cole was very efficient and also didn’t get many swings and misses (five), which we can attribute to the Rays having the lowest strikeout rate and the lowest swinging strike rate in baseball. They were aggressive too. Cole faced 22 batters and 12 saw no more than three pitches, and eight saw no more than two pitches. He threw seven pitches in the third and four pitches in the fourth, which helped with the pitch count.
"I felt like that was the smart play," Cole said about exiting after 72 pitches (video). "It may seem easy but it was a high pressure, tough game. Had one quick inning and we made some great defensive plays that led to some of that efficiency as well. Overall, it was good work for what we had out there."
Cole threw 86 pitches in his final rehab start but you can’t compare rehab starts to MLB starts. They aren’t anywhere close to the same intensity level. Cole and the Yankees had a pitch limit in mind Friday and he’s too important to push beyond that to chase a win on May 22nd. They already brought him back ahead of schedule (i.e. without that one last rehab start). No need to push the pitch count too.
Stuff-wise, Cole’s fastball sat 96.2 mph and topped out at 98.6 mph, which was his best regular season velocity since August 2024 (he was over that in the 2024 World Series). He held that velocity too. It was 96.1 mph in the first inning and 96.4 mph in the sixth. In a free edition of his newsletter, pitching guru Lance Brozdowski came away very encouraged by Cole’s stuff Friday:
(The) most interesting thing to me is that he’s behind the ball more. His four-seam spin efficiency spiked to 97% in this start, up from 91% (more on “spin efficiency” here). His four-seamer maintained 17"+ vertical break and added 2" arm-side movement as a result. If these traits stick into future starts, we’re looking at a better fastball shape, all things considered, than 2024.
The detriment to a better fastball through rising spin efficiency is that it often negatively affects breaking ball shapes. In Cole’s case, we … don’t see that? His curveball had 5” more glove-side break than 2024, his slider maintained its shape, and his sinker had more drop. The biggest negative impact came to his changeup, which lost 5” drop. In sum, Cole’s stuff looked better than 2024 in this first appearance, which I didn’t expect.
It’s just one start and I’m sure the adrenaline was running very high given the first game back thing and the opponent, so we’ll see what Cole looks like once he settles into the rhythm of the season. He looked really, really good though. Carlos Rodón returned from his elbow surgery and sprayed his fastball all over the place. Cole returned and looked in control of everything. He looked like Gerrit Cole, basically.
“The command was good enough,” Cole said (video). “Controlled the zone well and sequenced well. Brought ourselves room inside the strike zone, and beside some lapses in control, kept pressure on the opposition throughout the at-bats. There’s probably some opportunities to get a little further outside of the strike zone (to get swings and misses).”
We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see Cole and Max Fried in the same rotation, but after what Cole showed Friday, it’s hard not to dream on what the Yankees could do with Cole, Fried, and Cam Schlittler starting six times in a best-of-seven postseason series. That’s a ways away though. Cole looked great Friday. He looked ready to be an impact pitcher, and what an on-field and mental boost that would be.
Judge snaps out of his slump (I hope)
It has been tough sledding for the captain the last two weeks. Going into Sunday’s game, Aaron Judge was 8-for-47 (.170) with 18 strikeouts since the start of the Brewers series, including 0-for-15 with nine strikeouts in his last four games. You could see the tide starting to turn though. The game-ending rip to left-center Friday was Judge’s best swing in a while, then he singled in the first inning Sunday. The walk-off homer came later in the game.
“I really didn’t know about it until (reporters) bring it up, or maybe the YES Network shows it at the bottom or something like that,” Judge told Phillips about his slump. “But no, there’s no frustration. I got a job to do. Obviously I want to get the job done and help the team win, and we weren’t winning, so I was mad about that … You can find other ways to help your team win, so that’s what I was trying to do.”
The swings were getting better and the takes were getting better, and when that happens, the good stuff usually follows. I was asked to write about Judge’s slump at CBS last week and my conclusion was that it was like every other Judge slump. He fell out of his approach and got too jumpy at the plate, and chased too much. The team-wide slump magnified Judge’s slump, but it was just a slump. It happens.
(Even when he wasn’t hitting, Judge was playing good defense in right field, including making a couple of diving catches on the homestand.)
The walk-off homer was Judge’s 199th at the new Yankee Stadium. He is the stadium’s all-time home run king by a lot, which should surprise no one. (Mark Teixeira is a distant second with 113.) With one more Yankee Stadium homer, Judge will become the 28th player with 200 home runs in one ballpark. Only 10 players have 250 homers at one ballpark …
1. Mel Ott: 323 at Polo Grounds2. Sammy Sosa: 293 at Wrigley Field3. Ernie Banks: 290 at Wrigley Field4. Mickey Mantle: 266 at old Yankee Stadium5. Mike Schmidt: 265 at Veterans Stadium6. Frank Thomas: 263 at what is now Rate Field7. Paul Konerko: 259 at what is now Rate Field8. Babe Ruth: 259 at old Yankee Stadium9. Stan Musial: 252 at old Busch Stadium10. Lou Gehrig: 251 at old Yankee Stadium
… and Judge has a real chance to join them. Is it crazy to think he can get to 300 Yankee Stadium home runs? He’s signed through 2031. Average 18 homers a year over the next 5.67 years, and Judge is at 300 in the Bronx. During his otherworldly peak, Judge averaged 26 homers per 81 home games from 2022-25, so getting to 300 at home might be too much to ask. Being the 11th with 250 is doable though, for sure.
More importantly, Judge is beginning to look better at the plate and the Yankees really need Judge to be Judge. Last year’s team was able to get away with it when Judge slumped, but that’s not the norm. Usually Judge slumps and team-wide slumps track very closely. Judge is getting close, I think. Now we just need Ben Rice to start doing the same.
Caballero returns (and the shortstop job)
José Caballero returned Friday and had about as bad a game as you can have while going 2-for-4 at the plate. He got caught stealing just before a homer (he’s 4-for-10 in his last 10 steal attempts), committed the error that opened the door for Tampa’s game-winning rally, and didn’t get a runner home from third with two outs in the eighth. An 0-for-3 followed Sunday, which, yuck.
The Yankees sent down Spencer Jones when Caballero returned, not Anthony Volpe, and Aaron Boone is beginning to hedge a bit on the “Caballero is our shortstop” thing. Caballero did start Friday and Sunday, but Boone also talked about “different iterations to get guys on the field,” per Bryan Hoch. It doesn’t sound like Volpe will be a pure bench guy. He’s gonna get a few starts each week. (Boone said Volpe will play in Kansas City this week.)
“As I’ve told them each, it’s not going to be the perfect situation every day,” Boone told Hoch. “You may like or not like a decision on a given day, but at the end of the day, we’re all working for the same thing. We want to win big. There will be some days where it makes sense, and is fair or not fair. But we’re in this together.”
Volpe has begun working out at second base – why didn’t this happen in Scranton? – and Caballero has started preparing to play other positions. Both guys have said the right thing. They’ll do whatever they can to help the team win, so on and so forth. I’m not sure how shortstop will shake out moving forward but it does feel like it will involve too much Volpe. The Yankees can’t help themselves with him.
Should it be Caballero vs. Volpe though? It should be Volpe vs. Ryan McMahon. McMahon is Stephen Drew offensively (a clutch homer every two weeks and dreadful in between) and his defense has been shaky according to both the numbers (-3 DRS and +0 OAA) and the eye test (what’s with all the low throws?). Caballero at third and Volpe at short might be the best possible alignment.
Giancarlo Stanton is (slowly) inching toward a return and what the Yankees do then will be telling. Do they send Volpe down to open a roster spot, or second down Max Schuemann and continue trying to make it work with Caballero and Volpe? I guess that depends how Volpe performs between now and then, and how he takes to this new part-time role that might be more of a half-time role.
The shortstop position is A Thing now when it doesn’t need to be. “Who’s at short?” becomes an everyday question, and when one guy has a bad game, the masses call for the other. The Yankees are pretty good at minimizing distractions, but Volpe is a special kinda lightning rod. It’s unavoidable with him. Both guys playing well will solve a lot. Or just one guy playing very well and making shortstop an obvious choice. That answers the question too.
Miscellany
Ryan Weathers was great Sunday (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K on 95 pitches) and the offense scored zero runs with him on the mound for the fifth time in his 10 starts. Here is the WAR leaderboard among pitchers who changed teams in the offseason:
1. Dylan Cease: +2.0 WAR2. Kyle Harrison: +1.5 WAR3. Ranger Suárez: +1.3 WAR4. Mike Soroka: +1.3 WAR5. Ryan Weathers: +1.2 WAR
Weathers is at a 3.14 ERA (3.47 FIP) with 28.3 K% and 6.7 BB% through 10 starts and 57.1 innings, and he is maybe the No. 4 starter right now. Nifty trade … Shoutout to Cody Bellinger and Ryan McMahon for that play at third base Sunday (video), which kept a run off the board and killed the inning in a tie game. Bellinger made a smart throw and McMahon made a good pick … No walks since the Baltimore series for Ben Rice. He has walked four times in his last 86 plate appearances (4.7%) after walking 21 times in his first 113 plate appearances (18.6%). Judge’s slump has overshadowed Rice’s, but Ben is running a .273 OBP in May … Jazz Chisholm Jr. is now 16-for-37 (.432) with three doubles and a homer since he began appropriating Giancarlo Stanton’s pants. He’s officially a league average hitter: .246/.321/.385 (102 wRC+). The contact quality has ticked up too:
The Yankees really, really need this to last. Jazz hitting like 2025 Jazz is the single biggest upgrade the Yankees could make to their offense, realistically. There is only going to be so much help available at third base and catcher … Trent Grisham returned from that little knee issue Friday and went 5-for-8 with two doubles and a walk against the Rays. He’s up to nine doubles on the season, matching last year’s total. Like Jazz, Grisham is now a league average hitter: .196/.321/.374 (101 wRC+). That slash line is league average? What happened to the game I love … And finally, Paul Goldschmidt has begun playing more and he has predictably fallen off a cliff. He’s started the last four games, all against righties, and went 1-for-14 with a walk and four strikeouts in those four games. There were some really hideous at-bats in there too. This team needs Stanton back in the worst way.
Injury updates and roster notes
Giancarlo Stanton (calf) will go for tests this week to determine whether he can up his running. He may return without a rehab assignment, which seems like a bad idea, but whatever … Jasson Domínguez (shoulder) could start a rehab assignment next week as long as things go well these next few days.
Up next
Three games in Kansas City, an off-day, then three games in Sacramento. The Yankees swept the Royals last month and have beaten them 11 times in 11 tries since Chisholm said they “just got lucky” with their Game 2 win in the 2024 Wild Card Series. Here’s what’s coming up between now and Friday’s post:
Monday at Royals: RHP Will Warren vs. RHP Michael Wacha (3:30pm ET on ESPN)
Tuesday at Royals: RHP Cam Schlittler vs. TBA (7:30pm ET on YES)
Wednesday at Royals: RHP Gerrit Cole vs. LHP Noah Cameron (7:30pm ET on Amazon)
Thursday: off-day
Boone said Cole bounced back well from Friday’s start and is in line to start Wednesday on normal rest. That will push Carlos Rodón back to Friday in Sacramento. The Yankees have an off-day Thursday and another off-day Monday. They have some rest coming and the flexibility to do something creative, like maybe use Rodón out of the bullpen in Kansas City. They probably won’t do it, but maybe.
The Royals put Kris Bubic on the 15-day IL with elbow soreness last week and they expect Cole Ragans to return from his achy elbow this weekend. They’ve been using bullpen games to bridge the gap between Bubic and Ragans, so I figure that’s the plan Tuesday. Righty Luinder Avila and lefty Bailey Falter did the heavy lifting last time. Also, shoutout to the Mariners for forcing Royals closer Lucas Erceg to throw 32 stressful pitches Sunday. That could come in handy.
Kansas City has won two straight, but they’re 22-31 with a -25 run differential, and they’re near the bottom of the league in every offensive category. I know any team can beat any other team on any night in this game, but this should be a right the ship series for the Yankees. Go to Kansas City, beat up an inferior team, enjoy some BBQ.
2. 2026 draft prospect: UCLA RHP Logan Reddemann. The 2026 MLB Draft will take place the weekend before the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 35 pick. As I do every year, I’ll preview prospects the Yankees are said to have interest in, players who fit the team’s M.O., and players I like for whatever reason. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already covered.
Reddemann, 21, played two years at San Diego before transferring this year to UCLA, the best team in the country. He pitched to a 2.87 ERA (2.72 FIP) with 35.7 K% and 4.7 BB% in his first 10 starts and 59.2 innings this spring, then came down with what has been vaguely described as “arm fatigue." He hasn’t pitched since April 17th. Here are the latest draft rankings:
Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 15
ESPN: No. 18
FanGraphs: Outside top 40
Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 15
MLB Pipeline: No. 20
Last week UCLA head coach John Savage told Ben Bolch that Reddemann could return as a reliever for the Big Ten Tournament this past weekend, but that didn’t happen. I don’t know if he was available and just didn’t pitch, or is still hurt and wasn’t actually available. I guess we’ll find out when the Regionals start this weekend. Here’s video and here’s MLB Pipeline’s free scouting report:
A fall and offseason with the Bruins’ staff has helped Reddemann add strength and velocity, while all of his repertoire has improved. His fastball now sits around 95-96 mph, and he’s touched as high as 99 mph, getting plenty of swings and misses with the pitch. In the past, his best secondary offering had been his changeup, and the 84-85 mph pitch still has the chance to be a plus offering in the future. But his go-to this year has been a hard, 87-91 mph cutter, a pitch he’s shown he can throw to both sides of the plate against both lefties and righties, with an ability to bury it on the corners. He also unveiled a newer, sweepier low-80s slider, and he’ll use an 80-82 mph curve to get ahead early in counts.
Even with the uptick in velocity, Reddemann has continued to fill up the strike zone with all of his offerings, and deception in his delivery helps all of it play up. He’s super-competitive on the mound, and scouts who saw him in San Diego have been impressed in the way he’s changed his breaking ball profile and stepped up his game in his Draft year.
UCLA should have a deep postseason run and thus give teams a chance to see Reddemann, assuming he does return and pitch out of the bullpen. There’s also the Draft Combine next month. Players who take a physical at the Draft Combine are guaranteed at least 75% of their draft slot. Reddemann could use that to show teams his arm is sound, and also ensure no funny business during bonus talks.
Keith Law (subs. req’d) says Reddemann was “getting top-10 attention” before the injury, and now he’s out of the first round entirely in mock drafts. That could change quickly if he comes back this weekend and lights it up, but that reflects his current standing with the draft six weeks away. There are some similarly big-armed college pitchers in this draft class who are healthy and pitching. Teams will gravitate toward them.
The Yankees have used their top pick on injured pitchers in the past, most notably Andrew Brackman and Clarke Schmidt, and even two years ago Ben Hess had some nagging issues. A needle would have to be thread for Reddemann to get to the Yankees. If he’s healthy, he’ll probably go higher than No. 35, and if he’s not healthy, do you want him? Maybe it works out and there is a chance to get a top arm at No. 35 though.
(Send your questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for if/when it returns.)