TAMPA — Shortly after Gerrit Cole faced hitters for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring, Aaron Judge said that “you would have never known” the Cy Young winner was coming off a procedure that robbed him of the entire 2025 season. “It looked like the old 45 that I’ve seen for years,” Judge said Friday after grounding out against Cole, who faced three batters, threw about 20 pitches, sat around 95-96 mph with his fastball and topped out at 96.9 mph. Told of Judge’s assessment on Saturday morning, Cole said it was “a great compliment” to hear. “I wasn’t in a rehab mindset yesterday,” he continued. “I was just in that performance mindset. So it didn’t feel like...
