How Luis Gil won the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Award
The American League Rookie of the Year race was wide open in 2024, and for a decent part of the season, it looked like the New York Yankees had a player who could run away with it in Austin Wells, but an ice-cold September derailed his case.
Instead, the Yankees had another rookie surge in Luis Gil surge late to win it narrowly over Colton Cowser of the Baltimore Orioles.
PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images
It was an interesting season for Gil, who was not slated to be in the starting rotation until Gerrit Cole got injured in Spring Training. This was also Gil’s first full season since recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he had in 2022. He showed flashes in a brief stint down the stretch in 2021, helping that Yankees team scrap its way to the playoffs. He pitched in just one game in the major leagues in 2022 before getting surgery and appeared in just two games in the minor leagues in 2023.
Going into Spring Training in 2024, Gil was an afterthought. If Cole had gotten hurt before Spring Training started, Gil might not have even been among the top two internal options to slot in the rotation. Instead, he earned that last spot in the rotation with a great performance in Spring Training.
Gil winning the Rookie of the Year is a great example of resiliency, and now, he could be a significant piece for the Yankees moving forward.
Gil made 29 starts in 2024, posting a 3.50 ERA and throwing 151.2 innings, according to FanGraphs. It was an interesting route to get there, as he posted a 4.01 ERA in April, followed by an incredible May ERA of 0.70. Struggles followed that, as Gil had a 6.45 ERA in June, followed by 3.33 in July, 5.25 in August and 4.00 in September/October. At one point, it was thought that fatigue was getting to him, but the Yankees pushed back on that. Some arm slot issues came up that were eventually resolved, and some advice on slider grip from former Yankee Luis Severino, when the Bombers faced the New York Mets, helped Gil get back on track.
When looking at the pitch mix, Gil leaned on three pitches in 2024. He threw a 96.6 mph four-seam fastball, an 87.5 mph slider, and a 91.6 mph changeup. The main difference in 2024 in comparison to 2021 was that he used his changeup much more in 2024 (25.3%) than he did in 2021 (6%), according to Baseball Savant. He threw his four-seam fastball 48.8% of the time and his slider 25.9%.
The usage varied a little bit depending on the handedness of the batter Gil faced. He leaned on the fastball for the most part in both cases, throwing it 43.7% of the time against right-handed batters and leaning more on it against left-handed batters, throwing it 54.4% of the time. When it comes to secondary pitches, he used his slider more against righties (32.3%) than he used his changeup (24%). Against lefties, it was the opposite, as he used his changeup (26.8%) more than his slider (18.8%). That usage makes a lot of sense, as the right-handed slider darts away from righty batters.
Gil was more effective against righty batters, as they had a .267 xwOBA against him in 2024, in comparison to the xwOBA of .312 lefty batters had. Improving against lefty batters, as well as cutting down on his 12.1% walk rate, will be important for Gil going into 2025.
For now, he can celebrate winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award after a huge positive step in 2024.
PHOTO: Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images
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