New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil has put up a historic month of May, striking out 44 batters and posting a 0.70 ERA, according to Katie Sharp.
Luis Gil is the only pitcher in Yankees history with 40 or more strikeouts and an ERA lower than 0.75 ERA in any calendar month, according to Sharp. This is an incredible stretch of play for Gil, especially considering he was not supposed to even be in the starting rotation this season until Gerrit Cole got hurt in spring training.
When Gerrit Cole got hurt in the spring, many believed the Yankees needed another arm in the starting rotation and urged them to sign someone like Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. Instead, Snell signed with the San Francisco Giants and Montgomery signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Yankees rolled with their in-house options, and it has worked wonders.
Gil turned in a dominant performance against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday to close out his month of May. He went eight innings, giving up one run on a Logan O'Hoppe home run, while striking out nine and walking two. His ERA on the season is down to 1.99, and just simply looking at it, he is firmly in the All-Star conversation, and you could make a case for him to start the game.
Clay Holmes came in for the save in the 9th inning and was able to secure a 2-1 win. The Yankees moved to 38-19 overall as a result, and remain 1.5 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, as it seems those two will be in a dogfight for the American League East crown throughout the regular season.
Can the Yankees afford to take Luis Gil out of the rotation when Gerrit Cole is back?
There is excitement surrounding Gerrit Cole and his eventual return to the Yankees' rotation. He has been throwing to live hitters lately and seems close to pitching in rehab games. That is great news for the Yankees, but that means eventually one of the five starters will have to move to the bullpen, unless the team goes to a six-man rotation, which seems unlikely.
Gil has been mentioned a lot when it comes to who will move to the bullpen, not only because he was the fifth starter to begin the season, but he is coming off of Tommy John surgery and many believe the innings workload of being a starter for the full season will be too much. Also, Gil's pitch mix will likely play very well in the bullpen.
However, not only has Gil been great, he has been the Yankees' best starter this season. Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt have all performed well, but Gil is a step above and performing like a top 10 starting pitcher in the sport. It is tough to remove that from your rotation, no matter how well everyone else is performing.
Only time will tell if Gil stays in the rotation or not when Cole comes back.
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