Yankees monitoring the clock on Luis Gil
Luis Gil of the Yankees reacts after the second inning against the Twins at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
When admiring Luis Gil’s brilliance through the first two months of this season, it’s nearly impossible to do so without one eye on the mound and the other anxiously staring at the clock, whether real or imagined.
For as much as the Yankees insist there is no innings limit on Gil -- the biggest stunner on a surprisingly excellent rotation -- a clock is ticking nonetheless, however you want to define it. Even if Gil isn’t facing a hard innings boundary, he’s a flame-throwing youngster (he just turned 26 on Monday) who’s had very little in the way of buildup since Tommy John surgery in 2022 -- a grand total of four innings last season at Class A Tampa (his season-high total is 108 2/3 innings, split between two minor-league levels and the majors, in 2021).
Under the old thinking, the Yankees would routinely cap pitchers at an increase of 40 to 50 innings from the previous season, believing that was the safest guideline for long-term health. But that philosophy was ditched in recent years, most notably with Clarke Schmidt last season, in favor of a more scientific approach, relying on baseline fluctuations in Hawk-Eye (pitching) data and other physical-exertion measures.
Without this shift in protocol, Gil’s superb six-inning effort Tuesday night (one hit, zero runs, six Ks) in the Yankees’ 5-1 victory over the Twins possibly would have been his final appearance of the season, as it pushed him to 69 1/3 innings -- a significant uptick of 65 1/3 from the previous year.
Not too long ago, that was the danger zone. But for Gil, who is now 8-1 with an AL-best 1.82 ERA, it’s merely a stepping-stone, as the Yankees smartly pulled him after 88 pitches -- his fewest since throwing 84 over 4 2/3 innings on April 1 at Arizona, his ’24 debut. Protecting Gil is a priority, but in strategic fashion.
“You kind of value that a little bit, try and pick your spots in a way of preserving him, too,” manager Aaron Boone said afterward. “We’re certainly mindful of that, but also understanding he’s healthy and strong, and there’s going to be nights where, let’s go.”
So what’s the course of action with Gil? Most of it is science-based, but there is an element of the Yankees crossing their fingers, too. According to pitching coach Matt Blake, he’ll be under the microscope, with the team studying his performances on a granular level and also his bounce-back between starts, scanning for red flags that Gil could be reaching his expiration date for the year.
“We have a good idea of how he’s recovering, both subjectively and objectively, and you just try to piece as many of those together as you can,” Blake said before Tuesday’s game. “It’s not a perfect science, but just trying to have a bead on it and then hopefully make some informed decisions as we go.”
The temptation to push the envelope with Gil, an early Cy Young favorite who is vying to become the Yankees’ second straight All-Star Game starter since Cole a year ago in Seattle, has to to be incredibly difficult to resist. Gil was just named both Pitcher and Rookie of the Month after going 6-0 with a 0.70 ERA in May. He’s the first pitcher in franchise history with 80-plus strikeouts (85) and a sub-1.85 ERA through 12 starts, according to stat guru Katie Sharp.
How do you willingly pull the plug on such a dazzling talent? Before Tuesday’s game, Boone didn’t want to entertain the notion of possibly shutting down Gil at some point in the not-too-distant future. Boone even went as far as suggesting they could protect Gil enough to get him through the entire regular season, as they did a year ago with Schmidt, who went from 90 2/3 innings in 2022 to 159 innings (over 32 starts) last season. Maybe pulling Gil earlier than usual from some starts to trim his pitch count or give him some extra days between turns, but there’s no plans for a premature shutdown.
“We’re not putting any kind of a limit on him,” Boone said.
Still, Gil is human after all, and it’s relatively early in his return from TJ surgery. To think he could have the stamina to make it the full six months is asking a lot -- if not totally unrealistic -- never mind being functional for October. When I asked Blake if they had an idea how deep in this season Gil could potentially go, he couldn’t really provide an answer.
“I don’t know if there’s any [evidence] out there saying, yeah, that’s it,” Blake said. “Just looking at what Clarke did last year, I think it’s a little bit of proof of concept that it doesn’t have to be the classic way you look at it. He was starting to fatigue a little bit down the stretch, velocity-wise and just the way he was recovering, but there’s things you can do in-between to help monitor the workload.”
The bottom line? The Yankees will do everything in their power to squeeze in as much Gil as they can for as long as they can to beat that ticking clock.
“There’s a pressure to win,” Blake said. “And if he gives you a really good chance of winning, you want to run him out there as many times as you can.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.