Luis Gil has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year, but that may not be enough to keep him as a starter all season.
Gill, 26, is in the midst of his first extended major league absence after missing most of the 2022 season and all of the 2023 season because of Tommy John surgery.
Lack of experience hasn’t been an issue, as the powerful right-hander has posted an impressive 2.04 ERA with 90 strikeouts in 75 innings.
The Post reported in March that Gill would not be subject to an innings limit, but Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said: In an interview with “Foul Territory,” Before the team’s 10-1 win at Kansas City on Tuesday, the manager suggested the team would be cautious, especially with a potential addition like starting ace Gerrit Cole on the way.
“We’re going to try to find the best balance for our team,” Blake said on Baseball TV about the team’s strategy with Gerrit Cole’s looming return.
“Is he in the bullpen? Is he in a timeout at some point? I don’t know if we have the answer to that, but the best thing going forward is to take as many steps as we can and get as much information as we can.”
Gill was inserted into the Yankees rotation in light of Cole’s elbow injury during spring training and has far exceeded expectations.
He won the American League Pitcher of the Year award and Rookie of the Month award for May after going 6-0 with a 0.70 ERA and 44 strikeouts while holding opponents to a mere .109 batting average.
Gill was a front-runner for Rookie of the Year early in the season and was a likely starter for the American League in the All-Star Game.
He accomplished all of this despite never pitching more than the 96 innings he achieved in a single professional season in 2019, when he split the season between the Yankees’ Single-A and High-A affiliates.
“Obviously, Luis Gil hasn’t had a proven track record with innings over the last few years, so we have to be very careful with his innings,” Blake said.
“I think we’ve been pretty upfront about that we’re not going to put an arbitrary innings limit on him. Instead, we’re going to see how he responds to the workload that he’s currently managing, how his in-between work goes, how his recovery goes in the weight room, in the training room.” [and] Check out how his metrics are tracking.
“All of these things are important and may lead to a more informed decision regarding him.”
Cole isn’t the only pitcher looking to return; Clarke Schmidt, who was sidelined in late May with a torn right latissimus dorsi, could also be a candidate in the coming weeks.
Schmidt had a 5-3 record with a 2.52 ERA in 11 starts prior to the injury.
That would give the team, which boasts the best team ERA in MLB (2.85), six potential candidates for five rotation spots.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a difficult conversation. There are just too many quality starting pitchers,” Blake said.
“This is one of many things we will be seriously considering going forward.”
