Yankees’ Luis Gil wins Rookie of Year Award in tight race with Orioles’ Colton Cowser

With less than a month to go until Opening Day this past spring, the Yankees optioned right-hander Luis Gil to minor-league camp.
At the time, it felt like Gil, who was sidelined for most of the previous two seasons after Tommy John surgery, was destined to begin the season in Triple-A. He needed more time to build up to the length of a starter and there were no openings in the Yankees’ big-league rotation.
Then, ace Gerrit Cole went down with an elbow injury. Suddenly, the door was open for Gil to pitch his way back into the discussion for the vacancy in the starting staff.
Gil proceeded to wow the Yankees over the last few weeks of spring training, a dominant stretch that featured an eight-strikeout outing against the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla.
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RESTORING THE GLORY
That start resonated with Yankees manager Aaron Boone, his coaching staff and the front office, a performance that will go down as the dawn of Gil’s historic campaign.
Gil won the American League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday night, beating out Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser by only five points. Gil received 15 first-place votes and Cowser got 13. Yankees catcher Austin Wells was also a finalist, finishing third.
The right-hander is the first Yankee pitcher to win Rookie of the Year since Dave Righetti in 1981. Since Righetti, captains Derek Jeter (1996) and Aaron Judge (2017) are the only other Yankees to win the award.
Gil pitched like an ace while filling in for Cole early on. He won Pitcher and Rookie of the Month in May. After his first start in June, the end of an unbelievable stretch where he won seven starts in a row, Gil had a 1.82 ERA. Opponents were batting .129 against him with a .461 OPS.
Lapses in command were Gil’s kryptonite all season, but he finished the year with impressive numbers. Gil ended up with a 3.50 ERA and a 15-7 record over 29 starts (151 2/3 innings). He struck out 171 batters and was tied for the most starts with one or zero runs allowed in MLB (17).
Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes won the National League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday as well. Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill and Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio were the other two finalists.
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Max Goodman may be reached at [email protected].