![\"Luis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/new-york-yankees-starting-pitcher-123684094.jpg\")
Luis Gil pitches during the Yankees-Tigers spring training game on March 15, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\nTAMPA \u2014 The search for the 2024 Luis Gil continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is still time to find it, but the Yankees right-hander will not have forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his penultimate start of the spring, Gil had a game to forget Sunday, getting tagged for three home runs, nine hits and seven runs across three innings against the Tigers. <\/p>\n
The former AL Rookie of the Year needed 68 pitches to get nine outs, and while his velocity took another slight tick up, he lacked command and overall crispness, making for a rough afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019re closer right now [to Gil\u2019s 2024 version] than we were last year, but ultimately these next steps are the big ones \u2014 really capturing the life on the fastball and then creating some space for the secondary,\u201d pitching coach Matt Blake said after a 12-1 loss to the Tigers at Steinbrenner Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked if Gil is a lock for the rotation, Aaron Boone described him as \u201cone of the five guys.\u201d <\/p>\n
Luis Gil pitches during the Yankees-Tigers spring training game on March 15, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
But the Yankees have four off-days before their 10th game of the season, so they are still trying to figure out how to best manage the rotation in the first two weeks to keep everyone sharp. <\/p>\n
Gil has a minor league option remaining, but the Yankees could also piggyback one starter with another if they decide to carry all five on the Opening Day roster (and that is before they eventually have to make space in the rotation once Carlos Rod\u00f3n and Gerrit Cole return from the IL).\u00a0<\/p>\n
That places some extra significance on Gil\u2019s final start of the spring later this week, when he will have another chance to prove he is still capable of getting back to his 2024 form, when he was one of the more dominant pitchers in the first half of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Luis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/new-york-mets-vs-new-122016956.jpg\")
Luis Gil is still trying to cement his spot in the Yankees rotation. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I got to concentrate on what I need to do,\u201d Gil said through an interpreter. \u201cFor me, [being consistent] is the focus and that\u2019s the key, to control what I can control and work on my craft and be as consistent as possible. \u2026 It takes time to get there, to be at 100 percent, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gil, who missed four months last year with a lat strain, averaged 95.8 mph with his fastball Sunday (up from 95.3 in 2025) and topped out at 97.5. <\/p>\n
But he only got two whiffs on 19 swings against the fastball, after not generating any on 18 swings against it in his last outing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s definitely something we\u2019re looking into,\u201d Blake said. \u201cThe profile from \u201924 to now is slightly different. There\u2019s a little bit less ride to it from a little bit slower slot. Sometimes that\u2019ll play into the visibility of the pitch, the life above the barrel, those type of things. But the velos started to trend up as the spring\u2019s gone on, so you feel like it\u2019s improving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, the batters will tell you, so we got to find a way to get some miss and stay off the barrel with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of the three home runs Gil gave up Sunday, one came on a changeup down the middle to Spencer Torkelson, one came on a slider on the inner third of the plate to Matt Vierling, and the last came on a 95 mph fastball on the inner third to Riley Greene. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
He came away from the outing encouraged by the uptick on his fastball but displeased with his changeup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boone, who acknowledged earlier this spring that he still wanted to see more from Gil, was asked if he has seen enough with a week left in camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of good from Luis and again, it\u2019s ticked up every time,\u201d Boone said. \u201cI want him to get back to where that first half of \u201924, that next level of electricity with the heater. He\u2019s still having trouble right now getting swing-and-miss with the heater. But it\u2019s the whole package. But I also don\u2019t want to ignore a lot of the good that\u2019s gone on in some of the starts he\u2019s had as well. So this was a rough one today, without question, but we got to get back and keep working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 The search for the 2024 Luis Gil continues.\u00a0 There is still time to find it, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[46144,20,9,11,10,321,319,55941],"class_list":["post-164636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-luis-gil","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports","tag-spring-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}