BRADENTON, Fla. — The Yankees have settled on a fifth starter.
Aaron Boone, speaking to reporters before the team’s exhibition series in Mexico City, said it will be Luis Gil.
The Yankees had an opening in their rotation after losing Gerrit Cole to elbow inflammation, and the competition whittled down to Gil and pitching prospect Will Warren.
While both have fans in the organization, Gil has the added advantage of major league experience and being on the 40-man roster. But the 25-year-old earned the opportunity, recording a 2.87 ERA with 23 strikeouts and six walks over 15.2 innings this spring in his unofficial return from Tommy John surgery.
That included a sensational March 11 performance in which Gil struck out eight Phillies over 3.2 innings.
“He’s electric. Plus, plus, plus heater. I think he had a pretty dominant spring. He was running through some really good lineups all spring. That shows you the explosiveness of that heater,” said rotation-mate Marcus Stroman, who connected with Gil over Instagram years ago. “So to see him in the rotation and healthy, it’s awesome.”
That included a sensational March 11 performance in which Gil struck out eight Phillies over 3.2 innings.
“He’s electric. Plus, plus, plus heater. I think he had a pretty dominant spring. He was running through some really good lineups all spring. That shows you the explosiveness of that heater,” said rotation-mate Marcus Stroman, who connected with Gil over Instagram years ago. “So to see him in the rotation and healthy, it’s awesome.”
“We made it a point to work on that pitch,” Gil said of his changeup on March 16. “If you remember, going back to when I debuted, I was really a two-pitch pitcher. It was important for me to work on the third pitch. I wanted to really get it to a spot where I felt comfortable using it, and now we’re able to use it.”
Gil enjoyed a promising cup of major league coffee in 2021, recording a 3.07 ERA and 38 strikeouts over 29.1 innings and six starts. He didn’t surrender a run over his first 18.2 frames, the longest scoreless streak to begin a career in Yankees history. That surpassed Slow Joe Doyle’s career-opening stretch of 18 innings, which he logged way back in 1906.
Gil also became the first pitcher since 1893 to throw at least 4.2 scoreless innings in each of his first three career appearances.
However, Gil underwent surgery in May 2022. He’s pitched in just nine official games and one major league contest since the start of 2022.
With that in mind, the Yankees will be careful with his workload. However, the team doesn’t plan on holding the righty to a strict innings limit.
“There’s no hard number,” Blake said. “Now, being realistic about maybe what to expect from this guy, he just hasn’t pitched competitively really for the last two years in any meaningful way from a build-up standpoint. So you’re not necessarily expecting him to go 180 innings, but at the same time, you’re not saying he can’t go 180 innings. It’s more like let’s just take it one start at a time, one month at a time, and just see how he’s responding, what the metrics look like in between outings, and kind of keep building as we go.”
Blake added that the Yankees will pay attention to Gil’s pitch metrics and profiles, biomechanics, velocity and recovery. They can test his strength and other related measurements in the weight room, too.
“It’s somewhat art, somewhat science, but we have a lot more objective metrics to kind of lean on [than an innings count] to say a guy’s trending in a positive or negative direction,” Blake continued.
While Gil will open the season as the Yankees’ fifth starter, that doesn’t necessarily mean he will be on the Opening Day roster. He won’t be needed until the start of a road series in Arizona on April 1, so the Yankees can use his eventual roster spot for an extra reliever. They could also use it to delay the departure of a player who is out of minor league options, such as catcher Ben Rortvedt.
While one of those bullpen spots could have gone to Warren, the Yankees have said that they view the 24-year-old as a starter. The team reassigned the prospect to minor league camp on Sunday.
However, Blake didn’t rule out the possibility of Warren pitching in relief at some point.
“Warren’s obviously a younger guy who doesn’t have a lot of upper-level experience, but I think he has a steady demeanor and a good presence to him when he’s out there,” the coach said. “I think he will be a good strike thrower. He’s got a nice sinker-slider combo and really does it in a little bit different way than Gil.
“Warren, we haven’t leaned as much on the relieving side yet, but I wouldn’t rule that out at some point either if he doesn’t make the rotation initially. Obviously, you want to keep starting depth in the mix, whether it’s in the major leagues or in Triple-A, but there’s some value in guys developing in the bullpen.”
While he didn’t win the fifth starter’s job, multiple people in the Yankees’ organization have said that they expect Warren to debut this season. That group includes Blake.