UPDATE: Gil has a high-grade lat strain and will not throw for six weeks, Aaron Boone told reporters on Monday. That timeline obviously takes Gil out of the Opening Day rotation with the season just over three weeks away.
The injury scares won’t stop for the defending American League champions.
Aaron Boone told reporters on Friday that Luis Gil felt discomfort in his pitching shoulder, resulting in his bullpen session being shut down. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year will undergo an MRI on Saturday.
Gil, expected to be a big part of a Yankees starting rotation that many believe to be the best in baseball, was stellar on the mound for New York in 2024. He pitched to a 3.17 ERA with 118 strikeouts through 102.1 innings during the first half of the season, as some wondered if he would be the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game. Instead, he struggled a bit in the second half of the season after landing on the IL with a lower back strain, though he retuned and finished the season with a 3.50 ERA.
The 26-year-old joins Giancarlo Stanton and Scott Effross as injured Yankees, with Stanton dealing with tennis elbows and Effross lasting just one pitch in spring training before suffering a grade two hamstring strain. Gil’s rotation mate Clarke Schmidt has also been ramping up slowly due to a “cranky back.”
Suddenly, Marcus Stroman may find himself in the starting rotation to begin the season after all, especially if Gil winds up missing some time.