Return of the Max! Max Fried making early return to Yankees rotation on Wednesday

It's been a gross and rainy day in New York, but that brought with it some surprising and good news for the Yankees. Instead of Max Fried starting a rehab game Wednesday night in Scranton, he's going to do it at Yankee Stadium in game two of a doubleheader against the Pirates. Fried was initially expected to make another rehab start tomorrow night with Scranton, but the rain out allowed the Yankees to change their plans and speed up Fried's return from the injured list. He last pitched May 13th against the Orioles at Camden Yards, left that game with a left elbow bone bruise. It's been a while since he's been on the mound, but he threw a rehab game Friday night. That was his first one. He built up to 52 pitches, and now he's going to be back for the Yankees on Wednesday. He'll still be on a pitch count, probably somewhere around 60 pitches, but I think the Yankees figured why waste those in the minor leagues. They were going to have to throw a bullpen game or bring up a spot stutter at some point before he got back next week, so having a doubleheader now on Wednesday allowed them to pivot from that plan and bring him up sooner than expected. It should be an exciting day at Yankee Stadium, especially because Gary Cole starts game one, Max Fried going game two. It's going to be the first time that those two guys have shared the rotation together, never mind shared the rotation on the same day, pitching the same day. It's been a long time coming after Fried signed with the Yankees. Cole missed all of last season with Tommy John surgery. Then once Cole got back to the rotation, Fried had already gone on the IL. The rotation has really been a strength for the Yankees for most of the season, but they've always dreamed about what it could look like when they get everybody healthy. Now they're pretty close to that point. Carlos Rondon is still on the IL, but he could be back by early next month. For now, they're going to have Fried and Cole in the same rotation, plus Schlittler along with Will Warren and Ryan Weathers as they try to get this thing back on track. Obviously, they have the trade deadline coming up in a few weeks, but getting this addition from within has the potential to be a huge boost for the Yankees if Fried looks like what he's been for them since the day he signed for the Yankees. He had a 3.21 ERA this season, so maybe he's only four innings tomorrow night, something like that, but it has the potential to be a huge boost for the Yankees if they try to get rolling.