The Yankees will welcome Luis Gil back to the rotation Friday.
But which version? The 2024 Rookie of the Year who so often could not be touched? Or the 2025 starter who spent much of the season on the injured list and then returned without the same velocity and stuff?
Gil will begin to answer that question when he takes the mound in St. Petersburg to open a series in which the Yankees will need a fifth starter for the first time this year.
The 27-year-old did not look his best through much of spring training, which meant he slotted in behind Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers and began his campaign with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
But his velocity ticked up in a dominant start against the Orioles to end his time in the Grapefruit League. On Sunday, he made his lone start with SWB during a chilly afternoon in Rochester, where his velocity was down but the environment may have played a role.
Gil allowed three runs on four hits and four walks, including walking the first two batters he faced, while striking out six in 4 ²/₃ innings.
“You could tell it was a really cold, windy day in Rochester,” said manager Aaron Boone, who watched Gil pitch on a monitor during a rain delay in The Bronx. “That first inning, he gave up a couple runs. I think he struck out the side in the first inning.
“… Managed contact pretty well. A little struggle in that first inning with his command, but overall threw the ball alright.”
The stuff during a frigid matinee at a minor league park was less interesting than the pitch mix. Of Gil’s 85 pitches, 30 were sinkers — a pitch he did not have in his arsenal in his first two major league seasons.
“Hopefully it’s just something that’s a little bit of a different look to help the four-seam play up a little bit and also help out with his secondary,” Boone said of Gil, who previously threw just a four-seamer, slider and changeup.
The Yankees are three games in to a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, which suggests that they likely will roll with the five-man rotation for a short while and enable Gil to make two starts.
Whether he sticks in the majors beyond that will hinge upon injury and upon which Gil takes the mound this year.
In a lineup filled with righties against southpaw Jeffrey Springs, Paul Goldschmidt sat and Ben Rice started at first base in what became a 1-0 loss in The Bronx on Thursday.
Goldschmidt is fine, Boone said, and likely will play Friday against another lefty in Steven Matz, but the Yankees want to expose Rice — who went 1-for-4 and collected the lone Yankees hit — to lefties.
Yankees starting pitchers have allowed 16 runs, which is the fewest through 12 games in franchise history.
Carlos Rodón threw around 40 pitches while approximating two innings in a bullpen session Wednesday, Boone said. The next step — whether more side work or a rehab assignment — is unclear.
Gerrit Cole is set to throw a simulated game Sunday morning in Hudson Valley.
The Yankees designated reliever Cade Winquest for assignment before he pitched a game, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported.
Winquest, a Rule 5 pick this winter, will go to waivers, where he will be available to any team. If he is not claimed, he will be removed from the Yankees’ 40-man roster and offered back to the Cardinals, his original team. If it gets to that point and St. Louis declines to bring him back, the Yankees could then send Winquest back to the minor leagues.
