Yankees’ Pitching Coach Admits Mistake about 2024 Rookie of the Year
By Kristie Ackert, Athlon Sports
The New York Yankees mishandled Luis Gil. The right-handed pitcher, who claimed the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year award, was one of the first players reassigned from the Yankees’ major league spring training camp to the minor league camp last year.
“We sent him out early in spring training more so to kind of protect him,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said on MLB Network’s Loud Outs. “And I think, again, it kind of probably rubbed him the wrong way. It was a little bit like, ‘Why am I not competing for a job here? Why am I getting sent back to the minor leagues?’ And you know, at the end of the day, we probably were wrong in that regard.”
While the Yankees may have underestimated Gil’s readiness for the majors after his 2022 Tommy John surgery, they quickly reevaluated. Once on the big league roster, Gil posted a 9-1 record and a 2.03 ERA, earning both AL Pitcher and Rookie of the Month honors for May in his first 14 starts.
“He marched through the first half,” Blake said. “The fastball life and command were really good. The changeup came around early in spring training and kind of became a feature. Midway through the year, he kind of redesigned the slider a little bit (with help from former Yankee Luis Severino and our former assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel) and kept the development process going. He weathered a little bit of the bad stuff in the middle of the season, a little bit of fatigue, and then turned back around and finished strong for us in the postseason. So, I mean, what an outstanding run for him.”
Gil, 26, debuted in the majors in 2021. He retained rookie status because he had only spent 45 days in the big leagues and pitched 43 ⅓ innings before suffering an elbow injury in early 2022 that required surgery. He missed the entire 2023 season.