Andres Chavez
The New York Yankees‘ pitching staff currently resembles a high-stakes puzzle with a few missing pieces. While the baseball world waits for Gerrit Cole to reclaim his throne at the front of the line, the team is leaning on Max Fried to navigate the early waters. Fried, one of the best lefties in the game today, has been wrestling with some uncharacteristic control issues this spring, but his presence remains the anchor.
Behind him, the rotation is a fascinating blend of raw potential and veteran insurance. Will Warren represents the “wild card” factor; his performance can be a roller coaster of consistency, yet his ability to make hitters look foolish with genuine swing-and-miss stuff keeps the coaching staff coming back for more.
The depth chart extends further with intriguing storylines. Cam Schlittler is finally healthy and slated to make his long-awaited spring debut this Friday, a moment that feels like unwrapping a gift the team has held onto for months. Meanwhile, Ryan Weathers has been lighting up the radar gun, throwing harder than ever before in his career. When you factor in the steady, lunch-pail reliability of Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn, the Yankees have built a safety net that most teams would envy.
The Luis Gil Conundrum
If there was one starter on the staff who hadn’t been looking quite right lately, it was Luis Gil. He entered Wednesday’s contest with a 3.60 ERA, but that number was a bit of a mask for some underlying structural issues. He was giving up home runs at an alarming rate—an identical 3.60 HR/9—conceding a couple of long balls in just five innings of work.
For a pitcher whose game is built on intimidation and power, his velocity was down and his command was spotty. Even though he had been doing a decent job of keeping his walks under control, he looked more like a survivor than the dominant force we saw during his breakout 2024 campaign.
That 2024 season was the gold standard for Gil. On his way to winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award, his fastball was a lightning bolt, averaging 96.6 mph. Hitters had a 29 percent whiff rate vs. Gil that year, making him one of the most uncomfortable at-bats in the league.
Last year, however, the engine seemed to stall. His fastball dipped to 95.3 mph, and his whiff rate crashed to a well below-average 21.5 percent. In his recent spring start against the Twins last week, the trend reached a worrying low: a meager 13 percent whiff rate with a heater clocked at 94.7 mph on average. For a pitcher who lives and dies by the “miss,” these were loud, discouraging alarm bells.
Signs of a Spring Awakening
Baseball is a game of constant adjustments, and on Wednesday, Gil decided it was time to change the narrative. Facing the Boston Red Sox, he looked like a man who had rediscovered his identity. He tossed three scoreless frames, striking out six hitters and reminding everyone why he was once the most feared rookie in the sport. He did walk two and surrendered two hits, but for the first time in a long while, the whiffs returned in bunches.
The underlying data from this outing was even more encouraging than the box score. Gil earned eight total whiffs, good for an elite 38 percent whiff rate. His slider, a pitch that failed to generate a single swing and miss in his previous outing against Minnesota, suddenly had its bite back, securing two whiffs against Boston. Most importantly, his fastball velocity crept back up to a healthy 95.7 mph average, accounting for five of his swings and misses.
Statistically, Gil’s 3.32 ERA from last year was highly misleading. He wasn’t missing bats, he was walking 5.21 hitters per nine innings, and his 4.63 FIP suggested he was pitching on borrowed time. Wednesday was the first step toward proving he can be more than just a survivor.
If he can maintain this rediscovered velocity and keep the slider sharp, the Yankees might just have their 2024 spark plug back in the engine.
More about:New York Yankees
