Yankees' Luis Gil to undergo MRI after experiencing shoulder tightness

TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees’ situation with Marcus Stroman seems to have worked itself out even before the calendar turned to March.

Before Friday night’s spring training game against the Blue Jays, manager Aaron Boone disclosed that reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil cut his bullpen session short after a handful of pitches after feeling “tight” in his upper arm/shoulder area.

Boone said Gil, who went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 151 2⁄3 innings last season, would be sent for an MRI on Saturday.

“[He] wasn’t able to really let it go,” Boone said of Friday’s session. “When a pitcher stops his bullpen, that’s concerning. But I also don’t want to get too far ahead. We’ll see what we have [with the MRI results], but any time a pitcher pulls themselves from a bullpen a couple of pitches in, that’s concerning.”

Boone did not have an immediate time frame for how long Gil could be out but said, “[It] feels like something that’s going to cost us some time.”

With Gil, 26, highly likely to start the season on the injured list, that means Stroman will slide into the rotation.

Stroman entered spring training as the odd man out. Gerrit Cole, who made his exhibition debut Friday night, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Gil and Clarke Schmidt were ahead of him.

Stroman, who skipped the first two days of workouts with his fellow pitchers and catchers, was back in camp on Feb. 14 and made it clear how he would be preparing for the season.

“I’m a starter,” he said repeatedly, something he has been throughout the entirety of his 10 years in the majors.

His “I won’t pitch in the bullpen” comment made some waves, though not in the clubhouse. But that remark seems to have been prophetic.

“You know you’re going to face some attrition somewhere,” Boone said Friday. “Hopefully it’s not something too serious [with Gil].”

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Cole, meanwhile, was sharp against a Toronto lineup missing most of its top hitters, though former Oriole Anthony Santander, who signed a five- year, $92.5 million deal with the Blue Jays in the offseason, was in it.

Cole allowed one run and three hits in 3 1⁄3 innings, striking out five.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the command,” said Cole, who threw 46 pitches (33 strikes). “I’m not sure we ran any three-ball counts and we did a good job maintaining the velocity we were looking for . . . I like where I’m at.”

After striking out two in the top of the first, he was given a 2-0 lead in the bottom half. Austin Wells, who Boone said before the game is in consideration to be the Yankees’ leadoff hitter to start the season, started the first with a long homer to right. Two batters later, Cody Bellinger homered to right. (Bellinger also doubled off the wall in the third.)

Cole’s 2024 season was delayed until June because of right elbow inflammation he suffered in mid-March. As for the news about Gil, Cole, a mentor to the young pitcher last year, hopes for the best.

“He’s extremely talented and he pulled a lot of weight for us [last year],” he said. “So we’re hoping he’s all right.”

Notes & quotes: Aaron Judge, who has done everything on the field with his teammates but has yet to appear in a game, will make his Grapefruit League debut on Saturday against the Astros at Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees held him out of the first week-plus of games as a conservation measure, the same approach they’ve taken with DJ LeMahieu, who will serve as the DH on Saturday in his first game of spring training . . . Former Hofstra softball player Jen Pawol, who has umpired in the minor leagues since 2016, worked the bases on Friday night at Steinbrenner Field.