Video Scouting Report on New York Yankees RHP Luis Gil

In a rare move, the New York Yankees actually acquired a top arm from another team, even more interestingly, it was a Latin pitcher. Now, Luis Gil is one of the best pitchers at the low-A level in all of baseball in 2019 and is quickly becoming a guy to watch for top 100 lists for the 2019 offseason.

Background

The Minnesota Twins signed Luis Angel Gil from the Dominican Republic in February of 2015 as a lightly-hailed pitcher from the Dominican Republic. He was long and lean and all projection at his signing.

Gil made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2015, making 16 appearances, tossing 23 1/3 innings, with a 4.63 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 23.6% walk rate, and 21.8% strikeout rate.

Preparing for the 2016 season, Gil ended up injuring his elbow and requiring surgery, costing him the entire 2016 season. Returning in 2017, he showed very well, pitching in the Dominican Summer League again, but showing much better with a 2.59 ERA, 1.22 WHIP over 41 2/3 IP, sporting an 11.3% walk rate and a 27.7% strikeout rate.

He made some big strides over that winter, with some estimating that he added as much as 30 pounds from the point of returning from injury in 2017 to Spring Training 2018, where he looked very good in backfields. That led the New York Yankees to ask for Gil when they traded outfielder Jake Cave to the Twins in March.

Gil spent most of his time with advanced rookie Pulaski in 2018, making 10 starts at the level before finishing the year in the New York-Penn League. Combined, he tossed 46 innings, posting a 1.96 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 15.4% walk rate, and 33.8% strikeout rate. He opened the season as a top-10 prospect in the Yankees farm system.

The New York Yankees sent Gil to low-A Charleston to open 2019, and he’s absolutely dominated the league. In 13 starts, he’s thrown 65 2/3 innings, with a 1.92 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 10.9% walk rate, and 40.2% strikeout rate.

Scouting Report

Size/Build

Gil is listed at 6’3″ and 176 pounds via Baseball-Reference, and he’s been noted for his lean-ness since being drafted, but he’s definitely filled out over the last two years, very likely more in the range of 190-200 pounds at this point. He just turned 21.

Delivery

Gil works from the third base side of the rubber, working with a fast-paced delivery. He takes a step toward first base and pivots his right foot before coming just over waist-high with his knee with a bit of twist at the waist before pushing toward the plate.

Gil does move quickly through his delivery, which often leads to inconsistencies with his landing spot, and when he misses his ideal landing spot, he ends up with an inconsistent arm slot as well. Normally, he works from a fairly typically 3/4 arm slot but tends to dip his slot when he misses his landing spot to a side or long while he slots higher when he misses his landing spot short.

It is notable that from the first video I could find of Gil pitching to his most recent start, he has significantly slowed down in his delivery, and he’s even done that through this season.

Control (45)

The struggles with consistency in his delivery really make this the area that limits Gil right now. It’s also the reason why he’s able to dominate at the low-A level. He has flashes of that control without command, and in those flashes, he’s absolutely untouchable.

Fastball (65)

The bread and butter for Gil is the fastball, and he works with 60%+ fastballs. The pitch has some natural arm side run when thrown from the waist on down in the zone and some impressive late carry when thrown up in the zone. He struggles to command the pitch, especially side to side in the zone.

The velocity on the heater, however, is absolutely elite. Gil has been sitting in the 94-97 range this year, touching triple digits, per the announcers, in 5 of the 8 games I reviewed for this report. He generates that velocity without much effort in his delivery.

Changeup (45)

While the change is firm, it’s still effective due to its variance in speed for Gil. He has the feel for arm speed, and one wonders when looking at his velocity and other offerings if he might be better served moving to a fastball variant rather than a true change, using something like a split-finger or cut fastball rather than a change.

Curveball (55)

Gil’s curveball has a Bugs Bunny effect to it, as it comes in in the upper 70s to low 80s, and it appears even slower when mixed with his other offerings. The curve has a sharp, 12-6 break, crossing over a single plane typically, sometimes achieving two-plane break at its best.

The curve is best when utilized from the waist on down as Gil does have a tendency to hang curves up in the zone when he misses his landing spot in his delivery and is intending to throw a bender up.

Slider (60)

Some will combine the slider and curve into the same pitch, but I’m told that there are two distinct grips that Gil is using for the two pitches, so I separate them here.

I rarely saw a sharp, snappy slider from Gil over the games I viewed. It was when he was hitting all the spots in his delivery, so it’s very likely something that he could feature as he gained more consistency in his delivery. That slider was 89-92 with a late, sharp break that hitters had no chance getting to.

The more frequent slider from Gil was a sweeping slider that worked from arm side to glove side with tremendous depth at times. It was definitely a swing and miss pitch, but he did have a habit of pulling the pitch into the zone or having it fly low and way outside the zone when he was off in the delivery.

MLB Comp

The build and delivery immediately brought to mind Vince Velasquez for me, and when I looked deeper into what they work with on the mound, the comparison really sticks.

Obviously, that comparison may concern Yankee fans over Gil’s long-term potential, but it is notable the Velasquez just turned 27 in early June, and he has over 3 years of major league service time, so he’s been good enough to be on a major league roster that long, producing 6 fWAR over 456 2/3 innings in his career.

To break that down into a 200-inning starter, that’s roughly 2.6 fWAR. That’s roughly the 30th- to 40th-best qualified starter in the league the last three years when going back from 2016-2018, so perhaps not an ace, but a viable starter in value at least.

The issue Gil will have is similar to what Velasquez has struggled with, and that’s being consistent enough to hold down a regular rotation role. While he has produced 6 fWAR in his career, Velasquez’s 4.24 FIP is going to leave managers frustrated.

Future Role

The raw stuff is absolutely that of an elite starter, and if Gil can get his delivery consistent as well as find a pitch to work as a change option, whether that’s a true change or a split/cut option, he could be a top-of-the-rotation starter. He has elite velocity and breaking stuff that should allow him to work well as a mid-rotation guy even if he can’t quite put together a 4th pitch.

Even if the rotation doesn’t work out, I’ve always thought Velasquez could have a future as an elite reliever, especially as a multiple-inning option. Gil could have a similar path to success.

Regardless of which route Gil ends up going, he’s certainly ready for the next step now, which would be the Florida State League. That could put him on the schedule to work through the upper levels in 2020/2021 and get to the Bronx in 2021.

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