From Bryan Hoch:
It was the top of the third inning on Sunday, and Luis Gil’s frustration boiled over, having been called for a balk that waved in a run. Rearing back for a strikeout, he then glared at the home plate umpire, prompting manager Aaron Boone to intercept his young right-hander with a crucial message: Let it go.
Cooler thoughts prevailed as Gil followed those instructions, representing another valuable learning experience as he continued to solidify his spot in the rotation. Gil was rewarded with a career-high nine strikeouts and his first big league win in three years as the Yankees held on for a 5-4 victory over the Rays at Yankee Stadium.
“It feels great to be able to get the win,” Gil said through an interpreter. “Every time you have an opportunity like that, you just want to go out and battle.”
Alex Verdugo’s tiebreaking two-run single highlighted a four-run fifth inning as the Yankees notched their sixth series win in seven tries, having won at least 15 of their first 22 games for just the fifth time in the past 21 years (also 2010, ’17, ’20 and ’22).
Just the fifth time in the past 21 years. What an odd stat that is. I take it that means they also did it in 2002?
Anyhow, pretty good win. Gil was quite good, if a bit annoying at times when he seemed not to trust his own stuff. But when he DID trust his stuff, the results were strong.
The offense had that one big inning, and while I didn’t love some of Boone’s managing decisions, I did appreciate him giving Victor Gonzalez a shot at a high leverage appearance. I suspect that Gonzalez has now leap-frogged his former Dodger teammate, Caleb Ferugson, to becoming the new third guy in the bullpen behind Hamilton and Holmes.
It sure is nice to see them winning so many series, especially against AL East opponents. They didn’t win a series at home against the Rays all of last year!
Nor does it look anything like that being the result of playing way over their heads. Some luck, yes. But they could play a lot better. Which is promising.
The Yankees really needed Schmidt or Gil to take a step forward this year with Cole out and uncertainty from Cortes/Rodon. Even though they’ve struggled to go deep into games, they have certainly been better than expected. Like it’s been most years recently, the Yankees strength is their pitching.
Gil’s walk rate is pretty concerning, but he is around the stabilizing point for K rate, and that is excellent at 34.5%
He’s doing that while failing to get batters to chase pitches out of the zone. If he can induce more swings on close balls, his BB rate should drop from terrifying to bad and his K rate may even increase.
Doesn’t seem sustainable that he’d pitch well. It’s fast but not super deceptive. And he has absolutely no idea where the ball is going. This is really the ideal spot for a prime Ramiro Mendoza…kind of sad that the game has evolved away that in favor of an endless stream of guys who will throw 99.6 until their elbows combust while striking out 11.5 per 9
I don’t think he’s nearly as wild as his walk rate indicates, but he is wild.
His stuff is fantastic though. He’s posting elite k and contact quality numbers.
He’s the kind of guy where you have to just give up on pitching and let him throw.
FIP hates him because of the walks, but statcast’s xERA actually thinks he’s been unlucky.
gil (and Schmidt) are awesome
gil has a top 5 fastball and Schmidt is a better stroman
I’m watching the establishment of a meme that Gil’s fastball is “not deceptive.”
I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as an elite fastball devoid of deceptiveness (well, unless it were 150mph, that might do it).
Where did that idea come from? Is based at least on anecdotal evidence about his fastball – by the guys who struck out on it anyway? It’s surely not based on technical measurements, right?
I think someone just made this up and it caught on. You can’t have an elite fastball with no movement. A fastball with no movement is not going to be elite. And you don’t strike out 2/3 of yesterday’s batters with no movement.
Gil absolutely has an elite fastball. It’s a classic “rising” fastball, with a pretty incredible 1.9 inch “rise”.
It’s a 4 seamer, so he’s not getting a ton of lateral movement, but it’s a filthy pitch that batters are getting eaten up by. They are whiffing on 36% of swings. On a fastball. That’s fantastic. And when they do make contact, it’s bad. .108 BA bad. .087 xBA bad.
I do think he needs to figure out a 3rd pitch though. His change up moves more laterally than down, something that runs glove side like a cutter or a hard slider night work. Or a split to offer something that drops.
yes and Chad Green says hello
I’d like to see him work on a cutter, sweeper, and/or curve
Thanks, Clay! Makes perfect sense.
again, a game that feels unlike the past few years. who would have last year’s Yanks winning this one?
it seems like this team will be defined by the depth. if Schmidt and Gil can be #4 starters then the rotation should stabilize. if they can get enough from the bullpen’s lower ranks they can hopefully get some bigger names back and stabilize. if ‘Waldo, Volpe, ‘Dugo can be league average hitters the lineup is long and good. I’m still remembering how they’ve collapsed recently though, so…
so far so good!
(…so what?)
exhibit a
rodon day, woo
against al Marlins, woo x2
Why is there a day game on a Monday?
Their whole schedule is just wonky. 17 games in a row without an off day?!