New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is slated to make his season debut on Wednesday after starting the season on the injured list with an elbow injury. Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone made the announcement during his weekly spot on the Talkin’ Yanks podcast, sharing that the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner will debut on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, when the Yankees take on the Baltimore Orioles in the second game of their three-game series. The Yankees and Orioles are locked in a midseason battle at the top of the AL East.

The 33-year-old Cole made just one appearance in spring training before being diagnosed with nerve inflammation and edema in his right elbow, but was able to avoid Tommy John surgery. The righty has worked his way back to the mound, making three rehab starts this month between Double-A and Triple-A.

Cole, a six-time All-Star and a two-time ERA champion, won his first career Cy Young award last season while posting an AL-best 2.63 ERA and 0.981 WHIP with 222 strikeouts and 48 walks in 209 innings pitched. Cole, who has mostly avoided serious injury throughout his career, made at least 17 starts in each of his 11 MLB seasons excluding the shortened 2020 campaign. He’s thrown 181-plus innings in each of the six seasons (pre-2020) including 200-plus innings in five of those seasons.

The Yankees currently hold the best record in baseball, with the Orioles tied for second-best at just 1.5 games behind the Yanks in the AL East. The Yankees pitching rotation has been stellar thus far, with every starter (Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman) owning an ERA of 3.59 or lower, and Luis Gil owning an incredible 2.03 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 80.0 innings.

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