The New York Yankees have endured a tough week with their pitching staff, losing starter Luis Gil to a “significant” injury, per Aaron Boone.
The expectation is that Gil will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the 2022 season, which is a huge blow to the starting rotation’s depth. This season, Gil has only made one appearance, pitching 4.0 innings and allowing four earned runs and five hits. He was making progress toward becoming a more impactful player down the road.
Eventually, the Yankees will need to supplement starting fatigue, and Gil was their first alternative from Triple-A.
However, the Bombers also learned that relief pitcher Chad Green suffered an elbow strain which will keep them out for several weeks.
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As per the Yankees:
Placed RHP Chad Green on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain.
On the season, Green hosts a 3.00 ERA over 15 innings. His strikeouts per nine have dipped to 9.60, and have been walking three batters per nine innings. In addition, his 25% groundball rate is the lowest in his entire career. His arm is clearly deteriorating as time wears on.
After multiple years of heavy usage, Green has seen a sizable dip in velocity, hitting 94.7 mph with his fastball, down 1 mph from 2021. In addition, his curveball velocity and split-fingered fastball are also down.
It has been no surprise to see the Yankees shy away from using Green as frequent as they once did based on his decreased velocity and poor pitch location. However, he isn’t expected to miss a significant amount of time after being placed on the 15-day IL. Green will have to ramp up upon his return to make sure his elbow is in good shape.
Nonetheless, the Yankees are experiencing their first injury scares of the season, and luckily the majority of them are depth-related.