Yankees fans believed Luis Gil deserved Rookie of the Year
11/23/2024 08:00 AM
Luis Gil took home the hardware, just as Yankees fans believed he should have.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The offseason is fully underway. Free agency negotiations for the big stars are rolling for clubs, and awards have ben handed out, with Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge becoming only the second Bronx Bomber in the team's history to win the Most Valuable Player award unanimously. The other was Mickey Mantle in 1956. Shohei Ohtani also won his MVP award unanimously after his monstrous season with 50+ homers and 50+ steals.
Another award given to players every season is the Rookie of the Year award and this season, the Yankees had two members of the team — Luis Gil and Austin Wells — as finalists. The other was Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser.
When polled, Yankees fans picked Gil to be the rookie of the year (it's worth noting that voting was still going on after the award winner was announced, so that could have affected the results in some way).
Of course, even with the caveat to the voting, Gil was still a very popular pick for the Rookie of the Year award.
Gil won 15 games this season, finishing with a 3.50 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 151.2 innings pitched. He finished only behind the Chicago Cubs Shota Imanaga in innings pitched, and his fWAR was 2.2 by season's end, which was sixth among all rookie starting pitchers but first among rookie pitchers in the American League. His ERA was fifth among American League rookie starters, but only one of the four pitchers ahead of him pitched over 100 innings.
Gil truly struggled only two months of the season, and it came along with the team's regression as well. In June, the big right-hander pitched to a 6.45 ERA in 22.1 innings, following May, when he had a 0.70 ERA in 38.2 innings. He also struggled in August with an ERA of 5.25, but he only pitched 12 innings after being sidelined due to a lower back strain at the end of the month.
Those events didn't stop him from bringing home the hardware in the award category, though. While a World Series trophy likely would mean more to him than Rookie of the Year, it's still an honor to be a part of a small group of MLB players to win it.
The other SB Nation Reacts poll focused on free agency and the young Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki.
The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher out of the Nippon Professional Baseball League made waves in the baseball community after his incredible performance at the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan. And now that he has been posted, MLB teams can officially talk to him and sign him in the upcoming international free agent period.
Despite Sasaki's agent vehemently denying a post about him almost surely being a Dodger, baseball fans in our Reacts poll believe the Dodgers are still the most likely destination for the young flamethrower.
The Yankees will likely make a bid for Sasaki, but the club received just 10% of the vote, and at this point in free agency, their focus is largely on Juan Soto.
The Dodgers have been the obvious choice since it was news that Sasaki would be posted for MLB teams. With Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on a star-laden roster, the Dodgers can make a compelling case to Sasaki to join his teammates from Japan's national team in LA.
Of course, we won't know for certain what the result of the Sasaki stakes will be, but the Dodgers are certainly the frontrunners for the budding superstar.
