The New York Yankees may be facing a problematic situation with their starting pitching rotation. Domingo German hit the 60-day IL, and liabilities are littered across the unit. General manager Brian Cashman must have his reservations about their consistency in 2022.
Adding a free agent picture would’ve been ideal, but with every good option already plucked off the open market, Cashman may have to strike a deal to acquire a starter via trade. The Oakland Athletics are willing to part ways with pitchers Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, but Cashman doesn’t want to give up significant value from his farm system.
Another strategy Cashman could be considering is the evolution and development of two young pitchers who could make an impact this year.
The Yankees may already have their starting pitching solution on the roster:
Deivi Garcia and Luis Gil are the two players that come to mind as potential surprises. Garcia struggled in 2021 with the Yankees, making just two appearances for 8.1 innings. He recorded a 6.48 ERA with just a 23.1% ground ball rate. Looking at his pitches, he used his fastball just 41.2%, whereas he was hovering around 60% in 2020 when he made six appearances over 34.1 innings.
Garcia’s fastball hovers around 92 mph, so his velocity hasn’t taken a big step forward the last two years. However, his counterpart, Luis Gil, is capable of hitting triple digits.
Gil enjoyed 29.1 innings of play last year, recording a 3.07 ERA, 38 strikeouts, and allowed four homers. Gil‘s game logs are quite impressive, not allowing a run for three consecutive games until a September 8 outing against the Toronto Blue Jays, where he gave up three runs in 3.1 innings, including seven walks. Gil‘s walks were a bit problematic, but if he can correct that issue and dot is fastballs more effectively, he could be a back-end starter this year.
Gil features an intriguing array of pitches, notably his fastball, slider, and change-up. His fastball hovers around 96.1 mph, slider at 85.2, and change-up at 92.3. If he can increase his ground ball rate to around 40%, Gil could quickly become one of the Yankees’ best starting pitchers.
At just 23, they aren’t expecting him to make a massive impact in 2022, but I won’t be surprised if he earns an opportunity early on, especially after a dominant performance against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, blanking the opposition over two innings, striking out two batters. Deivi posted a similar stat-line, striking out one batter and enjoying two scoreless innings.