Player Breakdowns: April 2nd
I'll go over Luis Gil, Ryan Pepiot, & Jeff Hoffman
Luis Gil (NYY):
Luis Gil was being squeezed from the first batter of the game. They say the “juice ain’t worth the squeezin’” but I guess Luis Gil has all the juice. He showed it in his first start. Ketel Marte eventually worked a 9-pitch lead-off walk, but take a look at the nasty pitch that should’ve rung him up for the first out of the game.
It’s the final pitch in the video below and should’ve been the final pitch in that at-bat — just a nasty 93.4 mph CH dotted at the knees that the ump felt the need to squeeze the juice out of.
After Gil walked Marte, he got Corbin Carroll to strike out swinging on 3 pitches, an easy IFFB for the 2nd out, and then got Christian Walker to chase and swing at a 100 mph fastball on a 2-2 count for the 3rd out. Here is how dominant Gil’s first inning looked.
Gil averaged 97.7 mph on his 4-seamer last night with 17.8 inches of iVB with a VAA of -4.4 degrees. The fastball graded out extremely well and looked to have great life through his entire outing. He topped out at 100 mph and seemed like he was able to dial it up to 98-100 when he wanted, especially when he had 2 strikes on a batter. I love that — the kid reaches back and WANTS to strike you out. He’s not afraid to go after hitters. Right now, it looks like his CH is a little more developed than his SL and it seems like it’s his go-to secondary but he was throwing them at an almost equal percentage last night.
Something interesting about the slider. He threw it 3.3 mph harder than he usually does at 88.5 mph. Once he gets command of both secondaries to complement his plus fastball, he’s going to be a problem. Now for anyone who says he lacked command because of his 3 walks — we already went over the fact that he should’ve only been charged with two walks — I think that’s an excuse for not actually watching the outing. Sure, his Zone% wasn’t great at 50% on the 4-seamer, but he was locating well and dotting well when needed. There’s a difference. He got ahead of hitters and challenged them with his fastball. He lost a couple of batters but then got quick, weak outs to make up for it.
The only damage came in the 3rd inning and to be honest with you, he should’ve got out of that inning unscathed. He gave up a single and a walk to start the inning. Then Ketel Marte came up to bat and on an 0-2 count he bounced a slider off the plate that got by the catcher which advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Marte then hit a fly ball to left field for the Sac Fly. Corbin Carroll then weakly grounded out before Gil got Lourdes “Mark McGwire” Gurriel to strike out swinging on 3 pitches.
He then pretty much cruised through the 4th and the 5th, though he was taken out after recording the 2nd out in the 5th — going 4.2 IP 1 H 1 ER 3BB 6K — but we all know the real line should’ve been 4.2 IP 1H 0ER 2BB 7K. Sometimes you just get squeezed ‘cause you have the juice. And Gil has it.
I will post the rest of his outing below — both his called strikes & whiffs, and the balls put in play against him.
Whiffs & Called Strikes from Luis Gil’s first outing:
Balls in Play against Luis Gil:
Besides the outing itself, my favorite part of Gil’s night was the look on Gil’s face after Aaron Boone came out to get him after 4.2 IP. He didn’t give a shit about getting the W at all. He couldn’t care one iota about the win on his record, just that he put his team in a position to win. He was happy with the start and the fact that Boone let him go out there and throw 84 pitches. This bodes well for his next start if he wants to go a bit deeper. And it’s something I like to see. I know there are “competitors” out there who want the ball for that final out to get the Win or the Complete Game, but half of it is a farce that can be a detriment to the team in the first place.
Gil showed genuine enthusiasm for his start when it was over and he competed and was stone-faced while he was on the mound. I like the balance this kid possesses — and I want to see his command of his secondaries improve a bit before I crown him the next big thing. The fastball metrics I wrote about above are one thing — but if he can complement the FB with a hard 80s slider he has a feel for and learns to command that nasty downward CH and keep it low in the zone at 89-92, then we’re looking at a legitimate breakout arm here. Nobody sane roots for anyone to get hurt but without the injury to Gerrit Cole, we may not have seen Gil up in the big leagues to start the season. It gave him an opportunity after he had an excellent Spring and now he’s backed that up with a promising first outing.
By the way, if you wanted to see Gil’s reaction to being pulled after 4.2, I’ll post it below because that type of enthusiasm and positive attitude is what I want to end this bit about Gil on: