Alarm Bells Ringing: The Yankees Breakout Star Faces Injury Setbacks
This is why you can never have enough pitching. One minute the New York Yankees had a five-deep staff and it appeared an abundance of riches to spare with Will Warren looking impressive in Spring Training. It all came apart with the dreaded bullpen session. A case of tightness in the right shoulder of the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil caused the Yankees to shut him down quickly. The MRI, which is to be conducted tomorrow, will mirror Gerrit Cole’s 2024 Spring Training injury scare of only one Spring Training ago.
Gil, who came off of Tommy John surgery, caused him to sit out the 2022 season. He worked hard in the offseason to get in position to return to full strength last season. The Yankees watched him carefully throughout 2024 and even imposed an innings limit. Gil surpassed it by posting a 15-7 record with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts. Gil struck out 171 batters while pitching over 150 innings, while being voted top rookie in the American League. He carried the team like an ace when Cole was out for a chunk of the first half of the season and took a lot of pressure off the Yankees during his absence.
Gil was to join ace Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Max Fried and Clarke Schmidt in 2025 to form the nucleus of a World Series caliber starting staff. However, the bullpen session was brief and he informed the Yankee staff that something was wrong, “He just felt tight and wasn't able to really let it go,” Boone explained, “It feels like something that's going to cost us some time.” The timing may or may not be right. If it's something serious, it's better it happened now. If it's inflammation or a prognosis that requires rest only, the Yankees will breathe a serious sigh of relief. Marcus Stroman will certainly benefit either way. In an offseason filled with trade rumors, Stroman has suddenly become an important piece representing Yankee pitching depth that was initially thought not to be called upon as he would slot into the fifth spot with a Gil absence.
Gil is not the only young Yankee hurler to fall this spring season. JT Brubaker was hit with a comebacker that broke three ribs, knocking him out of contention to join the bullpen. Chase Hampton went down with a right flexor strain adding to his injury woes. Clayton Beeter even has soreness in his right shoulder as well. The rash of injuries has even struck veteran relievers Scott Effross and Jake Cousins, adding them to the out of action list. There are two ways to look at this sudden explosion of health issues. One is that the Yankees’ good fortune concerning injuries, which they evaded for once last season, is now only evening out this year with red flags all over. It can also just be the normal stretching out of bodies that were in mothballs and are now just getting acclimated to a new season of physical stress. Luis Gil and the Yankees destinies are now entwined in the hands of a test that will scan and produce a detailed image of a lost season or a special one. It will measure the difference of one shoulder result.
