Yankees Gerrit Cole in good spot after awesome session with idol Roger Clemens

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees from spring training TAMPA — The next time Gerrit Cole pitches, he will likely be making his spring debut.But on Sunday, before the Yankees hosted the Tigers, Cole was on a backfield facing Aaron Judge and other teammates to get his work in across three innings of live batting practice while building his pitch count up to 45.And, as he did on Friday during his bullpen session, Cole had one of his childhood heroes watching from behind the mound, Roger Clemens, who is in camp as a guest instructor.“It was awesome,” Cole said Sunday.“It’s really great.

Álex [Rodríguez] was in the house the other day, too.It’s good vibes.“[Clemens] had some advice after the pen the other day on some of the mechanics, some of the fine-tuning.

But so far he really liked the foundation.It’s gotta get better, but it’s in a good spot.”Cole said he planned to talk to Clemens at some point about how he was able to pitch into his 40s, though the Yankees ace is guessing it had a lot to do with his good mechanics and fluid movements.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! For now, Cole is focused on getting ready for his age-34 season, and Sunday’s live session represented the latest step in that pursuit.“Felt good,” Cole said.

“It was a good day’s work, hit the pitch count, threw some good velocity up there, threw a lot of strikes.”Cole typically throws at least four live batting practices before getting into game action, and Sunday marked his fourth.Last year, he only got into one game before being sidelined with elbow nerve irritation, but the early signs this spr...