Gerrit Cole threw a baseball on Monday for the first time in four weeks.
The catch session, the first of three scheduled this week, represented an important checkpoint in Cole\'s recovery from nerve inflammation in his right elbow that will sideline him at least until late May.
Cole is one of several prominent pitchers to sustain a major arm injury since teams reported for spring training in February.
The recent surge was unnerving enough for Tony Clark, the Major League Baseball Players Association executive director, to release a statement Saturday blaming the increase in elbow injuries on the pitch clock.
Major League Baseball responded with its own statement, dismissing Clark\'s thesis, pointing to the rise of pitcher injuries in recent decades, long before the pitch clock was enforced.
Cole addressed the surge of injuries and the ensuing exchange between the parties, saying he was \"disheartened\" by the back-and-forth.
\"I\'m just frustrated it\'s a combative issue,\" the New York Yankees\' ace said. \"It\'s like, \'OK, we have divorced parents and the child\'s misbehaving and we can\'t get on the same page to get the child to behave.\' Not that the players are misbehaving, but we have an issue here and we need to get on the same page to at least try and fix it.\"