Aaron Boone has a lot to like when it comes to Gerrit Cole

TAMPA, Fla. — Gerrit Cole’s status is not in doubt.

The righthander could post an ERA of 27.00 in the Grapefruit League season and he’d still be the Yankees' Opening Day starter against the Giants.

So the way Aaron Boone evaluates Cole, as well as other veterans whose roster spots are not in question, differs from how he views those who are competing for spots.

“Health matters,” Boone said before Cole made his first exhibition appearance  Friday night against the Tigers, striking out four in three scoreless innings at Steinbrenner Field. “Getting his workload to where we want to get it tonight, hopefully in a good, clean way. Where his pitches are in relation to where he and us want them to be right now. Is the stuff there at a level we want to see it — fastball velocity, slider, curve, change . . . does it all look the way it should?”

By all accounts, it was positives across the board.

With his fastball velocity sitting in the range of 96 to 98 mph  and peaking at 99, Cole had no discernible issues in a 51-pitch outing in which he allowed one hit and did not walk a batter.

“I liked how I feel [physically], liked the amount of strikes,” said Cole, who threw 37 of them. “I liked the rhythm that Kyle [Higashioka] got into.”

Cole, coming off a season in which he went 13-8 with a 3.50 ERA and struck out a  franchise-record 257 batters but also allowed an American League-leading 33 homers, worked with the new pitch clock for the first time in a game against another team (the Yankees had been using it in simulated games).

“I’m excited. Going to be great,” Cole said. “It’s faster, get home quicker. It’s going to be awesome.”

The Tigers' Kerry Carpenter battled for 11 pitches to start the game, grounding the last of those, a 99-mph fastball, to second. Cole struck out Parker Meadows swinging at a slider and ended the 17-pitch inning by getting Austin Meadows to ground a 98-mph fastball to first.

Tyler Nevin reached on a one-out error by shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the second, but Cole struck out Andre Lipcius swinging at a slider, then retired Ryan Kreidler on a fly  to right.

Cole struck out the first two batters he faced in the third — Zack Short swinging at a 98-mph fastball and Carpenter looking at a curveball.

“I’m really excited for the season,” Boone said. “I think he’s in a great place physically, mentally, emotionally. I just think he’s in a great spot and I think he’s going to have a great year.”

One of the reasons Boone believes that is because Cole is experiencing his first “normal” spring training as a Yankee. Spring training in 2020 was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that continued into 2021. Last season brought a three-week spring training after the MLB-imposed lockout.

Cole didn’t dispute Boone’s theory that having a more typical spring training could be a benefit. He indicated that this is the most comfortable he’s been since joining the Yankees.

“I’m not wasting any brainpower learning people’s names, I know where I want to eat. I know how long it takes to get to the field,” Cole said with a smile. “Every [previous] year was an adjustment. The second spring training in 2020 [Spring Training 2.0, which started in July] was wild. ’21 was still not the same and 2022 was still not the same until the end of the year.

"It just seems like things are more familiar and I find myself just kind of being more curious about the game and spending more brainpower on the game as opposed to showing up late or calling somebody by the wrong name and not looking like I’m assimilating here because people are always looking at me. I want to do things right, so I’ve got that kind of boxed up.”