Last week, Yankees right-hander Luis Gil made his season debut against the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing three runs in four innings, with three hits, three walks, and just two strikeouts. He was undoubtedly shaky despite limiting the damage somewhat. On Wednesday, he made his second start, and even though there were some improvements, the results were similar in the run-prevention department.
Gil was able to pitch five innings, but conceded three home runs and four runs in total. The Angels had five hits and worked two walks against the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Award winner, who struck out five.
First, the good: Gil induced 12 swings and misses, improving the 16 percent whiff rate he achieved on his season debut to a much better 34 percent. This time, the Angels swung and missed on three four-seamers, five changeups, and four sliders.
The breaking and offspeed stuff looked better this time around, even if the fastball command doesn’t appear to be there yet. At least Gil was able to miss some bats, sparking some hope about a potential turnaround when the dust settles.
View Link
If you were wondering, Gil’s fastball averaged 95.6 mph on the night, slightly up from 95.1 in his season debut. It’s still far from the 96.6 mph he averaged in his award-winning 2024 campaign, but if he’s healthy and remains a part of the Yankees’ rotation, he could potentially get closer to that number.
Now, the bad: Gil didn’t appear to trust the sinker. He only threw the pitch five times according to Statcast data, all vs. right-handed hitters. He earned a called strike with it, but nothing more. It’s unclear if ditching the sinker will be a thing going forward or if it was part of the game plan against the Angels, but he didn’t really use the pitch much on this one.
Another red flag was the low first-pitch strike rate, 50 percent on Wednesday. It was significantly lower than his 56.1 percent career mark, and it’s certainly something to worry about. Falling behind in the count will force Gil to cede control of the at-bat to the hitter, and that’s, well, not ideal.
Lastly, the ugly: three home runs. Wow. Nobody will complain about Gil allowing a home run to Mike Trout, one of the best hitters ever to play the game. Surrendering a home run to Adam Frazier is bad, though. That middle-middle fastball was screaming “hit me”:
View Link
The Angels hit Gil hard all night. There were 15 batted ball events against him in the game, and 10 of them were classified as hard-hit balls, which means they traveled at least 95 mph off the bat. In the first inning alone, their exit velocities against the Yankees’ righty were 98.1 mph, 99.7 mph, 97.1 mph, and 104.4 mph. The Angels’ average exit velo was 96.1 mph. Rough.
Gil will need to find a way to increase his fastball velocity or at least sharpen the pitch’s command if he wants to return to 2024 form.
The mediocre outing leaves his ERA at 7.00 in the young season. Again, he still has some time to pull off a comeback and return to form, but Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón will eventually be ready to return from their injuries. Carlos Lagrange and Elmer Rodríguez will eventually put themselves in the MLB picture. And those who don’t keep the team in games won’t get too many chances.
Read the full article here