TAMPA — Cody Poteet remembers meeting Gerrit Cole on a few occasions while attending UCLA.
Cole, who pitched for the Bruins from 2009-2011 before becoming the No. 1 draft pick, specifically recalled a time he returned to his alma mater to check out renovations to the athletic department. He dropped by the baseball team, caught a basketball game and spoke with a young Poteet, who pitched at UCLA from 2013-2015.
“Reserved, good kid, good head on his shoulders,” Cole, a UCLA Hall of Famer, said when the Daily News asked for his first impressions of Poteet. “He’s a smart kid. He was pitching on the weekend and getting good grades, so he’s got his stuff together.”
These days, Cole and Poteet have a second team in common.
The two have reunited inside the Yankees’ clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field. While Cole, fresh off his first Cy Young Award, is entering his 12th season in the majors, Poteet is trying to get his young career back on track.
He hopes to pick Cole’s brain in the process.
“I feel like I know him a little bit just from watching his career,” Poteet told The News. “Obviously, a tremendous pitcher. I love watching him. It’s been cool to get to know him more on a personal level so far in camp.
“I’m excited to learn from a guy like that.”
A fourth-round draft pick in 2015, Poteet recorded a 4.45 ERA over 19 games for the Marlins from 2021-2022. However, various injuries and the pandemic-cancelled 2020 minor league season have limited him to just 75.1 professional innings since the end of the 2019 campaign.
Poteet, 29, underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2022. The righty spent most of 2023 sidelined by the procedure while rehabbing in the Royals’ system, though he returned for one Triple-A game before signing a split contract with the Yankees this past offseason.
“It was huge for me,” Poteet said of that singular start. “Just to be able to get back on a field in a competitive environment is huge for the physical and mental aspects.”
Poteet added that he’s thankful for a “very smooth rehab.” He leaned on his faith and a “lot of good people” to get through the process.
That group included Eric Cressey, the Yankees’ director of player health and performance.
“It’s definitely nice to have a familiar face walking in here,” said Poteet, who first met Cressey while pitching in the Cape Cod League in 2014. “I know Eric really well. He brings all his great baseball knowledge into this place and just makes this place immediately better.”
Poteet began working out at Cressey’s Jupiter, Florida training facility in 2020, and he did the majority of his Tommy John-related physical therapy there. That gave the Yankees some insight on the pitcher as they pursued him over the winter.
“We had homework on him and Eric knew him really well,” pitching coach Matt Blake said toward the end of the offseason. “We just had some exposure that way. Knowing his story, it helped us see where the upside is with him. He had been hurt the last couple of years. Maybe not a lot of opportunities, got back at the end of last year. Now he’s ready to hopefully take off again with good health.”
Poteet, who spent the offseason teaching pitching lessons out of his backyard in Houston, is on track to start the 2024 season on time.
Earlier this week, he made his spring debut, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings in relief against the Twins. Leaning primarily on a four-seamer, sinker and changeup — he also sprinkled in a few sliders and curves — Poteet struck out three and walked one while not allowing a hit over 35 pitches.
The performance left Aaron Boone impressed.
“He’s definitely somebody that we valued and targeted this winter,” the manager said. “He can pitch.
“I thought he was really effective and efficient today. So we’ll see. We’re excited to have him, and I do feel like he can help us.”
Poteet has three minor league options remaining, giving the Yankees the flexibility to use him as needed.
Boone noted that Poteet has the ability to start, something he did nine times for the Marlins and throughout his minor league career. He could establish himself as one of the Yankees’ depth options should the projected rotation succumb to injury, but he also pitched well as a reliever over a handful of games for Miami in 2022.
After a few seasons interrupted by injury, Poteet will take whatever role he can get.
“I enjoy both,” he said of starting and relieving. “It would be hard for me to pick a preference.
“What I would love to do is just help this team win.”
