Luis Gil off to fine start in Dominican Republic

Gil walked four and allowed an unearned run on his own error in two hitless innings against the Rays on Thursday. Although he’s just two years removed from winning AL Rookie of the Year honors, it’s quite possible that Thursday’s outing will wind up being Gil’s swansong with the Yankees. He has a 4.61 ERA and a 17/18 K/BB in 27 1/3 major league innings this season.

The 28-year-old hurler has been impressive since transitioning to a bullpen role at the Triple-A level and could wind up being a major weapon out of the Yankees’ bullpen down the stretch. Yerry De los Santos was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move to clear a spot in the Yankees’ bullpen.

Gil had been rehabbing from shoulder inflammation but was activated off the IL a week ago and kept in the minors. With Max Fried (elbow) and Ryan Weathers (forearm) now banged up, there’s a chance the Yankees will work to stretch Gil out in Triple-A. He threw 30 pitches in this one, firing 22 of them for strikes and not walking any batters. At worst, he could provide the Yankees with length out of their bullpen soon if they wanted it.

Gil has been out for over three months with right shoulder inflammation and only threw three total innings between two rehab appearances with High-A Hudson Valley. Perhaps the Yankees are preparing him for a role in their bullpen as the playoffs near. Regardless, don’t expect him to contribute in a major way any time soon.

Gil has been on the injured list at Triple-A since May 8th due to inflammation in his shoulder, so he will need plenty of time to build his innings back up. Given that he had already been sent to the minors before the injury, it’s a long shot that he pitches meaningful innings for the Yankees this season.

Yankees’ skipper Aaron Boone noted that Gil won’t throw for at least the next three weeks due to the issue. Boone also clarified that this is a new injury and not something that that was causing his poor performance during his time with the Yankees.

It’s not a huge surprise, but it’s still noteworthy. The 27-year-old didn’t fool the Houston hitters at all Sunday while allowing six runs over four-plus innings, and the Yankees will have Carlos Rodón available to them shortly. There’s still some long-term upside in Gil — he just had a 6 1/3 scoreless outing the game before — but he’s safe to drop in redraft formats.

Gil had good velocity today, but he induced just three missed swings and finished with no strikeouts. He also walked three. It seemed like he was in line to make one more start next weekend against Baltimore before Carlos Rodón’s return, but that might change after the weak showing today.

Credit to Gil, but a lot of this was bad hitting. Gil’s velocity was actually down about 1.5 mph on his fastballs and 3.5 mph on his slider, and he ended up with just two strikeouts and three walks. He gave up eight hard-hit balls, but those produced one single and eight outs (one was a GIDP). Gil now has a 4.11 ERA and a 9/8 K/BB over 15 1/3 innings over three starts. He’ll face the Astros on Sunday, but he’s in line to be replaced in the Yankees rotation sometime next month.

Gil looked great early in this one. His fastball had life, his changeup was dancing, and his slider was nasty. Through four innings, the only run on his ledger came via a solo home run from Adam Frazier of all people. Then, things fell apart in the fifth. Logan O’Hoppe jumped all over a letter-high fastball to tack on another run before Gil walked Zach Neto on four pitches. Then, Mike Trout stepped to the plate and hit his third home run in as many days. The pitch was in his wheelhouse: low and center cut. All three of the home runs the Angels hit came against Gil’s fastball and it was an ugly finish to what felt like it could’ve been a promising outing. He’ll take a 7.00 ERA through two outings into a two-start week in Boston and Houston coming up.