Luis Gil reminds Yankees why he’s not long for rotation with logjam coming
· Yahoo Sports
HOUSTON — Pulled from Sunday’s game in the fifth inning, Luis Gil hung his head as he walked off the mound.
Left behind were two runners in scoring position, courtesy of a leadoff walk and a Yordan Alvarez double. While New York Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn allowed both Houston Astros to score, those two runs were charged to Gil. So were four others in a 7-4 Bombers loss that snapped an eight-game winning streak.
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Gil also totaled four complete innings, five hits, three walks, zero strikeouts and a pair of two-run homers, courtesy of Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes, in his fourth start of the season.
Most alarming of all, Gil only induced three whiffs from the Astros. Zero came on 22 swings off a four-seam fastball that averaged 95.4 mph.
For Gil, Sunday was especially disappointing after he held the Red Sox scoreless for 6 1/3 innings in his last start. But even that outing, against a lackluster offense, came with red flags.
Sunday’s start was a full-blown reminder that Gil, who has a 6.05 ERA and has allowed six home runs and 11 walks in 19 1/3 innings, currently isn’t a viable big league starter. It’s a reminder that follows a season-opening demotion to Triple-A for Gil, and one that comes with Carlos Rodón (elbow cleanup procedure) and Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) in the middle of rehab assignments.
Velocity has been a particular problem for the 27-year-old Gil, who has been working on his release point since spring training began.
Gil’s fastball velocity was averaging 94.8 mph entering Sunday’s game. While his radar readings were particularly low in his last start against the Red Sox, which came in chilly conditions, he is coming off a 2025 season in which he averaged 95.3 mph following a spring training lat injury. Gil averaged 96.6 mph during his 2024 Rookie of the Year campaign.
But a lack of heat hasn’t been Gil’s only issue.
Since returning from his injury last season, Gil had logged 72 1/3 innings in 14 MLB starts prior to Sunday. Over that span, 274 pitchers have thrown at least 70 innings. Among them, Gil ranked 177th in Stuff+ (97), 205th in WHIP (1.35), 257th in K% (16.2), 241st in xERA ((5.00), 258th in Location+ (94), 252nd in FIP (5.20), 270th in BB% (13.3), 272nd in K-BB% (2.9), and 274th in xFIP (5.70) and SIERA (5.73).
Whether it be the underlying metrics or the eyeball test, there just hasn’t been much reason to think Gil can consistently be an effective starter over the past year. The right-hander, who can be optioned to the minors, doesn’t have a profile well-suited for the bullpen, either.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Rodón should only need a few more rehab starts before he’s ready for his season debut. At that point, Gil should be the odd man out, as things stand, once that happens. Cole, meanwhile, is looking at a late-May or early-June return.
Of course, the Yankees have alternative options if they don’t want to wait on their vets before booting Gil from the rotation.
Elmer Rodríguez, one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, has a 1.27 ERA over four starts and 21 1/3 innings at Triple-A. There’s also Carlos Lagrange, another highly-regarded farmhand, who has a 3.66 ERA over five starts and 19 2/3 innings for the RailRiders.
However, the two 22-year-olds are still developing and had little-to-no Triple-A experience before this season.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Yankees continue to roll with Gil until Rodón is ready. But if Gil falters in however many starts he has left, that should no longer come as a shock, either.
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