Matt Blake appeared on Foul Territory earlier today, where the Yankees having innings limits on pitchers like Luis Gil came up. When asked whether they have actual inning limits, Matt Blake said there’s no limit on the young right-hander, describing those kinds of numbers as “arbitrary” and discussing how many variables go into fatigue in stress outside of just innings. Through his first 13 starts of the season, Luis Gil has a 2.04 ERA and 90 strikeouts, serving as the team’s ace in Gerrit Cole’s absence.
The hard-throwing righty has been dominant for the Yankees, and while he only tossed four innings last season, it seems like they’ll try to monitor this situation and decide if or when he’ll need time off as the season goes on.
Luis Gil Does Not Have an Innings Limit Imposed By the Yankees
Right now it looks like Luis Gil will make the All-Star Game, with a 2.05 ERA and 90 strikeouts through his first 13 starts of the season. His brand-new changeup looks brilliant, and he’s been on an absolute roll since May began. Over his last 8 starts, the Yankees are 8-0 and he has a 1.07 ERA with a 21.1% K-BB% and utilizing his changeup more and more as it’s become a real weapon for him.
His innings limit has been a topic of discussion since he won the final spot in their rotation after Spring Training, and while there’s likely a point where the Yankees would be careful, they aren’t creating a set number. We’ve seen them limit his workload in starts, as they did against the Minnesota Twins when they pulled him after six innings despite not even reaching the 90-pitch threshold.
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Luis Gil could be a very valuable weapon for the Yankees in the postseason, and while we all envisioned it would be as a reliever entering the season, now it looks like it’ll be as a starting pitcher. With Gerrit Cole’s return on the horizon and Carlos Rodon’s excellent campaign, they’ve got an excellent trio forming at the top of their rotation. That’s not even mentioning Clarke Schmidt’s production prior to injury, and the veteran presences Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes have brought to the table.
However the Yankees choose to handle this, they have the depth to mix and match starters during the season, and they have the farm system to make key additions to their pitching depth if they want to. Andy Martino of SNY reported that the Yankees could look to add some right-handed power pitching or some left-handed arms for their bullpen as well, so it’s clear that pitching is on their wishlist