Who needs Gerrit Cole when the Yankees have Luis Gil?

Expectations are always relative, but one thing that remains constant in baseball is that expectations are sky high. New York YankeesWith that in mind, last season was about the worst season for the franchise as they finished 82-80 and looked nearly moribund at the end of last season. Combine that with the fact that there will soon be high school kids who have never seen a Yankees ticker-tape parade down Broadway, and New York seems in danger of becoming just another team instead of a consistent, dominant force that makes it into the World Series conversation every year.

But there is good news for “long-suffering” Yankees fans. There is a small bit of hope that this long-running national nightmare may finally be over soon. While it would be foolish to predict who will hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy in any given season (especially with the current postseason format), it’s safe to say that the pace the Yankees have been winning since the start of this season means they should be primed to win at least come October. At 38-19, the Yankees are very likely to take on the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East and could very well be in position for a postseason bye week once that point is settled.

Happy days are upon us again for the Bronx Bombers, as FanGraphs has them as the favorites to win the American League World Series (14.5 percent chance of winning, second only to the MLB Dodgers at 20.3 percent) and the overwhelming favorite to win the division (69.1 percent).

Naturally, much of the conversation about the Yankees and their hot start is going to start with great players like Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Both of these guys are off to a great start, Soto is a perfect fit at Yankee Stadium, and Aaron Judge has stayed healthy and is performing as well as you’d expect when healthy. Then there are guys like Anthony Volpe, Alex Verdugo (look away, Red Sox fans), and even Giancarlo Stanton. As a result, a very compelling argument can be made that the Yankees are the best hitting team in baseball right now, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.

That said, I’m not here to talk about their offense. Instead, I’m here to talk about their pitching staff. Their pitching staff is also great. New York’s pitching staff has the worst ERA in baseball overall, but they have to “satisfy” themselves with having a top 10 FIP- as a pitching staff. The fact that they’ve done this without ace Gerrit Cole is very impressive and a bad sign for the American League and the rest of baseball. But who needs Gerrit Cole? Genuine Did Staff Ace thrive in his absence?

That’s right, folks. We’re talking about Luis Gil. If there’s anyone who wishes the month of May would last forever, it’s probably Luis Gil, because he had a truly amazing month on the mound. Gil made five starts this month, pitching 38.2 innings during that time, giving up a total of three runs in that same period. Gil capped off this magical month with perhaps his best start of the entire period: pitching eight innings against the Angels, allowing only two hits, two walks, one run (by home run) and striking out nine. As a result of his strong pitching, Gil finished the month with a minus-18 ERA, a paltry 0.70 ERA for the month of May. How awesome!

It’s hard to tell if this was his best outing in May, or if his previous outing against Los Angeles was better. You can go all the way back to his May 18 outing against the White Sox, where he struck out eight, walked two and gave up one hit and no runs in 6.1 innings. He gave up five hits and one run in six innings, but that was He struck out 14 Chicago batters. Luis Gil is in top form and it’s great to see him burst onto the scene like this.

Typically, this would be the time for me to reveal the secret to a breakout pitcher like Luis Gil. After all, he wasn’t the most promising prospect in the Yankees organization, but he underwent Tommy John surgery and not only survived, he’s now pitching in the major leagues for the first time since 2022. It is thriving. To be honest, there aren’t many secrets here as everything seems to be going well for Gil so far.

His 97 MPH four-seam fastball is his go-to pitch, with opponents batting .134 against him and an expected batting average of .181, and he also likes to throw a 91 MPH changeup (which the Yankees are working on). As an organization) infrequently, but he has a .148 batting average against it and an xBA of .185. He also throws an 87 mph slider. If you think opposing hitters struggle against his other two pitches, you haven’t seen anything yet. Opponents have a .122 batting average against his slider and an xBA of .179.

Simply put, everything is going well for Gil right now, and the fact that his Baseball Savant page is as red as a Chicago Bulls home playoff game is proof of that.

Again, this is an incredible breakthrough to witness thus far, and the circumstances surrounding it are even better. It’s clear that Gill wouldn’t have even had the opportunity to perform as well as he did had the Yankees entered this season with a fully healthy rotation. Instead, an injury to Gerrit Cole during spring training forced Gill into big league duty, and he rose to the occasion and was off to the races.

Then again, Gill wasn’t the most highly-regarded pitcher in New York’s farm system this season. He wasn’t even the top Yankees pitching prospect this season, with Clayton Beater making his major league debut on opening weekend against the Astros. Gill was always a possibility, but not many Yankees fans saw it coming. All of these This was coming from a 25-year-old pitcher who has started just six games in 2021 and is still a rookie.

Few Yankees fans would want Gerrit Cole out of the starting rotation once he returns from injury. Gil has pitched well, but his fellow rotation mates have also performed well. Nestor Cortes is coming off his best year. Clark Schmidt has also pitched very well, and Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman have done a great job filling out the starting rotation. The obvious question is whether they will continue to use Gil as a starter or demote him to a relief pitcher depending on his usage rate. The Yankees could also go with a six-man rotation, which is not entirely out of the question since it is clear that the Yankees currently have six quality starting pitchers.

Either way, this is a good problem for the Yankees to have, and it’s been a while since they’ve had such a good problem. If you’re a Yankees hater and you’re reading this, I applaud you for your courage in reading this far, but I have to tell you that you’re not going to get much better New York-related baseball than this. take pleasure in the misfortune of others Like last season. If you want that, look at the team in Queens. The Bronx team is doing well right now, and a lot of the credit goes to Luis Gil and a lot of other players.