Scribbles on a Notebook: Prominent Pitching Stars Rehab With Renegades

Former Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole

One of the promotional aspects of minor league baseball is that you can see the stars of tomorrow.

For the Hudson Valley Renegades franchise – which is just a stone’s throw from Putnam County – you could have seen the stars of today this past week.

The Renegades, a Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees, played host to two prominent pitching stars: former Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole and All-Star Carlos Rodon. Both were on rehabilitation assignments.

Nobody likes to hear about a player getting hurt, but this was a real treat. It’s not uncommon for a player to be assigned to a minor league team for rehab, and Hudson Valley’s proximity to New York makes it an ideal candidate. Good for us!

Both were scheduled to throw around 50 pitches. Cole threw 52 pitches, 42 of them for strikes, over 4.1 innings. Rodon threw five innings.

Cole pitched on April 22 and Rodon pitched two nights later.

Hudson Valley won both games against the Brooklyn Cyclones as part of a streak in which it won eight of its last nine games, including the series opener against Jersey Shore.

The Yankees also have franchises in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that are close to the Bronx, but the scheduling gods were in HV’s favor. Who’s to say when it will happen again?

But for now, this little taste of Major League Baseball in the Hudson Valley was something to savor.

Rich Thomaselli is a longtime sports reporter in the Hudson Valley, and currently covers Putnam County. He can be reached at rich.thomaselli@gmail.com.