The Yankees elected, in their weekend rainout adjustments, to preserve Luis Gil for Monday.
Gil could be the diamond in the rough that the Bombers are finally polishing off after several years of marinating in the organization.
In place of Gerrit Cole, we weren’t exactly sure of what to expect when the young righty won the fifth-man gig out of spring ball.
But it’s safe to say he has grabbed the opportunity by the horns — at least so far.
Gil’s fastball has been entrancing. He doesn’t shy away from using it no matter what the count is because he’s getting whiffs at a 31.8 percent rate.
Yankees vs. Blue Jays prediction
(7:07 p.m. ET, YES)
We saw potential with his four-seamer when Gil came on scene in 2021 and it looks to have only improved since.
Its velocity has progressively increased, and it’s tallied 10 strikeouts.
Gil has managed to float in the upper echelon of advanced pitching by maintaining a 1.98 xERA. He’s thrown in a pair of no-decisions, but has surrendered only three hits through nine innings.
He’ll face Chris Bassitt, who has struggled with some command issues to begin the year for Toronto, holding a gasping 12 percent walk rate.
He appeared back on track in last week’s win against Seattle by stringing together 6 ²/₃ stable innings that featured one earned run and eight strikeouts.
But walks were still a theme and the Blue Jays’ offense has not provided him consistent support.
This could pose problems in keeping men off of bases when Bassitt fights off counts against the Yankees’ stellar plate discipline.
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This game is set as a pick ’em, so I’m leaning towards the hotter pitcher and a Yanks bullpen that is more than three earned runs better than the Jays’ staff.
THE PLAY: Yankees ML (-105, BetMGM)