Over the course of three starts, Luis Gil went from being a candidate for the American League All-Star Game to being questioned about whether he would remain in the Yankees’ starting rotation.
While he obviously won’t be a starter in this month’s All-Star Game in Texas, manager Aaron Boone confirmed Wednesday that the 26-year-old will next start, after standard rest, on Sunday when the Yankees face the Red Sox at home.
No matter how much rest Gill gets, the Yankees still need to figure out why things got so bad so quickly.
Pitching coach Matt Brake said Wednesday that Gill is healthy and that even if he was feeling fatigued, it was normal for a rookie pitcher approaching 90 innings midway through the season.
Boone has talked about “getting creative” with Gill’s schedule during the upcoming All-Star break, but Blake said there are limits to what the Yankees can do.
“It’s important to have a good balance with the other players. [in the rotation]”‘Me too,'” Blake said before the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Reds in the Bronx on Wednesday night.
The same goes for potentially removing Gill from the rotation.
“If you take him out, you always have to consider that somebody needs to be the fifth starter,” Blake said. “So do we option him? [to the minors]”Put him in the bullpen? You can’t put a guy on the disabled list who isn’t injured. So how does that hurt the rest of the roster?”
There has been no talk of demoting Gill to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and there are no obvious options on the SWB roster to promote in his place.
That would put the Yankees in the same situation they have been in the past two weeks: How do they fix Gill?
He posted a 2.03 ERA through his first 14 games this season, allowing just five home runs and 39 walks (one hit) in 80 innings.
In his past three starts, he has pitched just 9 2/3 innings with a 14.90 ERA, allowing three home runs, walking nine batters and allowing five more hits.
“Is the poor ball movement a result of fatigue?” Blake said. “He’s not as good as he was at the beginning of the season, but it’s not enough to rest him. We’ll keep a close eye on his workload and how the ball is coming out.”
Blake noted that the “inconsistency” in Gill’s pitching remained intact on Tuesday.
“His arm position is changing, so the profile of his fastball is changing and he’s losing a little bit of control,” Blake said. “Guys go through that during the season. There’s just a lot of attention on how well he’s been doing, but now he’s receded a little bit and everybody wants to know why. It’s all a little bit at a time.”
Blake stressed that the team views his three recent starts as “still minor blips” throughout the season.
They hope it’s temporary and doesn’t develop into a bigger problem.
