Gerrit Cole, Adam Ottavino staying sharp with ‘backyard baseball’

Yankees pitchers Gerrit Cole and Adam Ottavino are seemingly keeping each other company during Major League Baseball’s hiatus due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Cole, who recently announced a significant donation to COVID-19 relief in New York City, told The Post that he had been working out his arm with help from Ottavino, manager Aaron …

Yankees pitchers Gerrit Cole and Adam Ottavino are seemingly keeping each other company during Major League Baseball’s hiatus due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Cole, who recently announced a significant donation to COVID-19 relief in New York City, told The Post that he had been working out his arm with help from Ottavino, manager Aaron Boone and catcher Radley Haddad. On Sunday, Ottavino posted a series of photos to Instagram of Cole throwing a bullpen session in what appeared to be one of the two’s backyard.

“Backyard baseball,” the 34-year-old reliever wrote.

Cole said that he’s been “hunkered down” with his pregnant wife, Amy, in their new Connecticut residence, which is evidently not far away from where Ottavino and his family are.

“Staying on my regimented workout routine here at my residence,” Cole said. “Being able to stay in that routine has been beneficial. Trying to keep the pilot light on like other players and being as ready as we can be when we are called back to being able to play.’’

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backyard baseball// @gerritcole45

A post shared by Adam Ottavino (@adamottavino) on Apr 5, 2020 at 9:51am PDT

Ottavino recently told YES Network that his backyard workout wouldn’t get him “completely ready” for whenever the season ends up starting, but it’s allowed him to avoid losing progress he made this spring.

With no definitive date set for Opening Day, it’s unknown how long players like Cole and Ottavino will have to resort to backyard baseball.

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