A’s “dodged a bullet” with Ryan Cook’s injury

Ryan Cook is on the disabled list for the second time this season, but the A’s reliever is making progress in his recovery from a strained forearm and could be close to rejoining the bullpen.

Jane Lee of MLB.com reports that Cook threw a 22-pitch bullpen session Tuesday and “utilized all of his pitches.” He’ll throw again Thursday, at which point the A’s will either send him out on a minor-league rehab assignment or decide that he’s ready to come off the disabled list without any rehab work.

Here’s the review of his bullpen session from manager Bob Melvin:

He looked like he had never missed a beat. We feel like we dodged a bullet as far as what the injury looked like originally. He was going after every one of his pitches, throwing his slider as hard as he could throw it.

Cook has been one of the best relievers in the league since debuting for the A’s in 2012, throwing 153 innings with a 2.35 ERA and 162 strikeouts. He’s been limited to just 12 innings this season, but does have a sub-3.00 ERA for the third straight year.

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