Yankees’ Luis Gil shut down for at least six weeks with lat strain

Yankees’ Luis Gil shut down for at least six weeks with lat strain

New York Yankees starter Luis Gil has been shut down for the next six weeks with a right lat strain, manager Aaron Boone announced Monday. The injury was discovered last week.

Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, is a tantalizing young arm–though he’s no stranger to injuries, unfortunately. Gil missed the entirety of the 2023 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of 2022.

While this injury doesn’t affect his elbow, lat strains are no joke. Clarke Schmidt missed over three months last year with a lat strain, and one could expect the Yankees to take similar precaution with what was deemed a “high-grade” strain.

Gil posted a 3.50 ERA across 29 starts last season, striking out 171 batters across 151.2 innings with a .643 OPS allowed. Gil ranked in the 86th percentile in expected batting average allowed (.208) and fastball velocity (96.6 MPH), with a 76th percentile whiff rate and 77th percentile strikeout rate, according to Statcast.

He was definitely prone to walks–I’m not sure if he even knew where that ball was going on a pitch-by-pitch basis–but he did a good job generating swing-and-misses and limiting hard contact. He’s got three plus pitches (fastball, slider and changeup) and will likely try to add to that repertoire as time goes on.

The Yankees have a fairly deep rotation in terms of who can step in and contribute. Right-hander Marcus Stroman will likely step in Gil’s spot in the rotation to start 2025 ahead of Will Warren, who’s one of my favorite breakout candidates for this season. Neither have the swing-and-miss potential that Gil does, but still are viable options as shoo-ins behind Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Schmidt.

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