As Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón work their ways back from the IL, the Yankees are likely to have an influx of starting pitching soon. Still, injury and ineffectiveness can derail the best laid plans. That was thrown into stark relief this week, with Luis Gil demoted after another disappointing start that raised his ERA above 6.00. In his stead, top prospect Elmer Rodríguez will be making his debut today. Whether that outing is merely a spot start or an opportunity to stick in the rotation will depend
not only on his performance but on the rehab timeline of those two injured veterans. In this interregnum between Gil’s demotion and either Cole’s or Rodón’s return, let’s take a look at who’s available down at Triple-A should additional reinforcements be needed.
Luis Gil
There’s a very real chance that Luis Gil has thrown his last pitch in pinstripes. It’s been a precipitous decline for the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, who never regained the bite on (or confidence in) his fastball after missing most of last year with a lat strain. Last Sunday, he allowed six runs in four innings to Houston and looked lost, permitting two towering home runs and failing to strike out a single batter.
The right-hander’s underlying metrics suggest that, if anything, he’s lucky not to have even worse numbers. His heater is down nearly two ticks from his 2024 high-water mark and he’s striking out just above 10 percent of batters (among starters, only Cristian Javier and Chris Bassitt are faring worse).
Nonetheless, Gil’s the only starter at Triple-A on the 40-man roster. While it’s difficult to imagine him regaining a spot in the rotation unless he’s able to make major improvements to his mechanics, it’s plausible he could get called up for a spot start should the Yankees get desperate.
Carlos Lagrange
Carlos Lagrange turned heads during spring training, unleashing a 103 mph fastball that’s made him into the Yankees’ top pitching prospect. Despite the temptation to leverage that weapon in a high-leverage bullpen role, his team has remained committed to keeping him on a starter’s path. The fireballer has fared reasonably well in his first Triple-A action so far this year, posting a 3.66 ERA through five starts while striking out 26 in 19.2 innings.
Lagrange’s thrown exactly 77 pitches in each of his last three outings, indicating he could shoulder a traditional starter’s workload if called upon. However, the fact that he’s not on the 40-man — as well as the looming return of Cole or Rodón — makes it unlikely the Yankees’ front office will rush things with their blue-chip prospect.
Ryan Yarbrough & Paul Blackburn
If a spot start is needed, the Yankees might well go with a bullpen game, particularly as their faith in Gil has bottomed out. Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn both have extensive starting experience and are already on the Yankees’ roster in their bullpen. Yarbrough has topped out at 38 pitches in an outing this year while Blackburn has tossed as many as 43, meaning either could go as many as four innings if they’re looking sharp and working efficiently. The two veterans have been opposite-handed mirror images of each other so far this year, with each allowing five earned runs in 11 innings of work. Neither is a strong prospect for a consistent starting role, but they give their team solid depth options to navigate the ebbs and flows of a 162-game season.
Elmer Rodríguez will likely be able to hold down the fort until one of the Yankees’ star hurlers gets healthy. But, if the injury bug sneaks up on the team, they have options to fill in, at least temporarily, to keep a red-hot team chugging along.
