Yankees right-hander Luis Gil has been named the American League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Colton Cowser of the Orioles finished second while Gil’s teammate Austin Wells finished third.
Gil, 26, made his big league debut back in 2021 despite what his eligibility for this award might imply. The right-hander made seven starts in the majors between the 2021 and ’22 seasons, pitching to a 3.78 ERA in those 33 1/3 innings of work. Unfortunately for Gil, the start of his career was derailed in early 2022 by Tommy John surgery, and he did not return to a professional mound until the tail end of the minor league season in 2023. Given his long layoff and the fact that the Yankees entered Spring Training with a solid on-paper rotation of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes, and Clarke Schmidt, it at first seemed all but certain that the 26-year-old would see his return to the majors further delayed as he began the season in the minors to wait for a big league opportunity.
That opportunity came earlier than anyone expected, however, as Cole missed the entire first half after being diagnosed with a nerve issue in his throwing elbow. That opened the door for Gil to make the Opening Day roster as the club’s fifth starter, and he proceeded to dominate in the early months of the season. In his first twelve starts of the year, Gil delivered a sensational 1.82 ERA with a 31.5% strikeout rate and a 2.98 FIP across 69 1/3 innings of work. That dominant performance was more than enough to earn him a rotation spot even after Cole returned to the rotation, and while Gil’s performance was far more uneven for the remainder of the season he still entered the month of August with a solid 3.20 ERA and 3.58 FIP across 21 starts.
August proved to be a bumpy month for Gil this season, as he made just three abbreviated starts before ultimately winding up on the injured list due to a back strain. That injury may have contributed to his rough finish to the year, as Gil posted a lackluster 4.38 ERA and 5.76 FIP in eight starts between August and September. Of course, it’s hardly a shock that Gil seemed to lose steam late in the year between his long layoff and the fact that his 151 2/3 innings of work were by far a career high. Overall, his final numbers were solid thanks to his otherworldly start to the year, with a 3.50 ERA (117 ERA+) and 4.14 FIP in 29 starts.
The Yankees will not receive a Prospective Promotion Incentive draft pick as a result of Gil’s win, as the right-hander did not appear on the requisite number of top-100 prospect lists in order to qualify for the PPI. That’s not the case for the second place Cowser, who would have earned the Orioles their second consecutive PPI pick and Rookie of the Year win had he won the award. The 24-year-old outfielder turned in an impressive season of his own this year, slashing .242/.321/.447 (120 wRC+) with 24 homers in 153 games while splitting time between left and center field for Baltimore. That impressive showing nearly took home the award, as Cowser received 13 first place votes to Gil’s 15 and actually appeared on 27 ballots as opposed to 26 for Gil.
That split voting continued down the ballot, as Wells finished in third place despite both Athletics closer Mason Miller and Guardians reliever Cade Smith receiving a first place vote a piece while Wells himself did not receive any first place votes. Miller and Smith finished fourth and fifth for the award, respectively, while Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu and Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford finished in sixth and seventh place with a handful of down ballot votes a piece.
This is a weak group tbh
30 starts on a WS bound team with 3 bWAR is a pretty solid RoY season. It’s just that there were two genuine superstars, rookie or not, in the other league.
There should be an age cap on this thing. 25 and under.
No, there shouldn’t.
More importantly, it should be limited to those who have not played in the top league in any country involved in the World Classic tournaments.
Why? This isn’t a Japanese import coming over at age 30.
Not as strong as the NL, but all three will likely go on to have strong careers. There was pretty good depth too with players like Miller, Abreu, Rafaela, Smith, Langford, etc. The fact that someone like Langford, as one example, didn’t quite breakout in year one like Merrill did doesn’t mean he won’t have a great career.
Pretty confident Langford will wind up better than all 3 ROY finalists before too long.
Wouldn’t disagree at all, but baseball can be a funny game that way.
Wyatt Langford is the most perfect Texas name.
I think the kid will be good, too.
If I didn’t know who he was, and I was asked to name the team someone named Wyatt Langford played for, it would be one of the two Texas teams, but most definitely the Rangers. He sounds like a Texas Ranger, even a 19th century law enforcement Texas Ranger!
The Inmate got off to a strong start, he faded enough that I thought he’d lose but the voters thought otherwise.
@horace, Gil? he has no off the field issues…
No, not saying he’s a bad dude just that he looks like an inmate.
That’s not cool dude
what a weird statement, I assume you’ve spent some time in jail to assert that type of comment
Or a psychiatric facility.
@horac
Racist much?
Well kudos to you for embracing your inner racist. The trump effect shines brightly
Not really, the only out of place pick was the New York bias pick of Austin Wells being a top 3 finalist. Wilyer Abreu won a Gold Glove. Ceddane Rafaela became the first player since 1901 to play at least 60 games at SS and CF in the same season and he wasn’t even listed. Plus Miller, Smith, Langford, Schanuel. There was a pretty solid class
Wrong choice, but I might be biased
Biased or not Cowser was literally the more valuable player.
Since “more valuable player” is subjective and not objective, there is no way you can prove that Cowser was literally the more valuable. My suspicion is that you just don’t know the definition of literal.
Orioles fan here.
I don’t put much value on these season ending awards. Colton had a heck of a rookie season. Solid defender. That said; I wouldn’t have voted for him here. Why? His offense was too streaky for me including a gosh awful 30% k rate.
Yowser, Yowser, Yowser nice rook season Colton Cowser.
Go gettum in 25 young fella! Let’s try to get that k rate down to at least league average. Interested to see if these new hitting coaches can help get you there.
Incorrect. Cowser higher WAR. This isn’t rocket science.
I would have selected Cowser, but please don’t base it on that idiotic WAR.
This thread already has the two great baseball fan follies: overvaluing WAR and completely dismissing WAR. Good job, team, that’s a wrap.
the greatest minds that we have to offer, truly
You mean to tell me the player that played 5x as many games accumulated more WAR (a cumulative stat)?
Nevermind the fact that using war to compare all the rookies who play in various positions isn’t an accurate comparison because they give it a positional weight. A better player with better skills doesn’t always get more war.
Pitcher WAR scales differently than offensive player WAR. Offensive players seem to have a bit more a ceiling for accumulating WAR as the top WAR players tend to be hitters, but it’s not like the top pitchers have 20% of the top hitters’ WAR. Consider that even though pitchers play in fewer games, they are involved in about as many plate appearances per season as a hitter is.
For example, Luis Gil faced 637 batters and Colton Cowser came to the plate 561 times. Not putting this forward as an argument for one over the other for this award (WAR comparison is just a starting point even for two players at the same position, let alone hitter vs. pitcher), but just pointing out that it isn’t as simple as scaling it to games played.
Might also factor in how many POs Cowser had. Not to mention baserunning for both players.
Yeah he plays everyday he’s more valuable and should win.
@just Playing every day does not equate to more value. Batters see roughly 4 plate appearances per game. They can also go entire games without having the ball hit to them. Usually they ll get at least a few attempts but they re by no means touching the ball every play.
Starting pitchers on the other hand have a much more profound impact. Half of each of the 5-6 innings every start they are the catalyst for the game. They set pace, choose(or agree) on pitch selection, and by choice or misfortune location of pitch, they field the ball as well on some plays, etc. To discount their value by simple total of appearances in noway provides a true value.
So no pitcher should ever win ROY… some guys say the smartest things around here, when it comes to support their favorite team and/or player
maybe someone knows the history, but gil made his debut in 2021 & won ROY in 2024. has there ever been a gap that long betw debut + winning ROY? technically 2024 is gil’s 4th season as a yankee since being called up in ’21
Not as long but Randy Arozarena debuted in 2019 and won ROY in 2021. Gil was also pretty much out for two full seasons though, so it’s not exactly like he’s been a major leaguer for four years.
i thought being hurt or on the IR still counted towards service time if you’ve alredy debuted
For service time yes, but not ROY.
@John Coltrane – I am guessing Lou Pinella has the biggest gap. He debuted in 1964 and won the 1969 AL ROY award with his THIRD team.
@fernando wow 5 yrs in between for lou. thats wild .
thanks for sharing i wasnt sure how to look it up
He wouldn’t have qualified given his AB, but Sam Jethroe debuted in 1938 in the Negro Leagues and won the 1950 ROY.
@fernando
I found 1 better
Even tho piniella debuted 1964 he had 1 AB then didnt play in majors 1965,66,67
But there’s a pitcher named gary peters
Debut 1959, threw a few innings every yr til 1963, then became full time SP & won ROY in his 5th season
Nice…didn’t realize Peters had many years as well. I remembered Pinella because of the three different teams and he played for Yankees.
Alfredo Griffin also won ROY like three years after his debut and with a different team.
The rules for ROY are relatively simple and have zero to do with service time. If you have less than 50 innings pitched or 150 plate appearances, you are still a rookie and eligible for the award. Even if those innings or PAs are spread across 10 years, you are still a rookie and thus eligible for the ROY award. There is a technicality where if you on the active roster from April-August for a certain number of days, but don’t cross the threshold you would lose rookie eligibility. But being injured does not affect your rookie eligibility at all.
@flew
so someone like ronny mauricio is still eligible for ROY?
Yes he is. Baseball reference will tell you if a player is still a rookie or the year they lost their rookie eligibility right at the top of the page around the birthday info.
Should be, age 25 or under and those stipulations.
I disagree with that. That would completely negate Disney’s The Rookie.
@johncoltrane I just came to say that I’m a big fan, from the Prestige through Atlantic and Impulse eras. Concert in Japan and Kulu Se Mama are two underrated ones.
lol
Coltrane was a big baseball fan too though.
@andujar
1961 village vanguard. nuff said
Geovany Soto debuted in 2005 and won it 2008
Another prize for simply being a Yankee.
Thanks!
No title, though.
An American League pennant is technically a title.
hold that title of second-place up! you earned it!!!
This is funny because the way these comments work there’s no way to tell which of us you’re replying to.
Lol this was pretty funny
@just_thinkin, if so, how come Judge didn’t get the MVP in 2017?
Cowser should have won. What a terrible decision.
Party time. Yankee style. Ahahahaha!
Yes, party time Yankee style. What’ll you have? A dropped fly ball? An errant throw to third base? A pitcher failing to cover first on a ground ball? Pick your poison so we can get this Yankee Party started.
Even @juco level, if 1 of our Ps didn’t properly get out n over to cover 1st on ball hit to his left in gm, we’d be running before nxt prac n we would be running more after prac. And the time spent during prac would mostly be running P fundamentals until nausea. $340Million gets ya piss poor puke effort on simple play that you’ve been executing since lil league n in world series no less. No excuse.
@Niekro floater.
In fairness to Cole and the Yankees, there was no practice the next day 🙂
I feel ya’ Niekro floater!
For me, going back as early as Pony League ball, coaches spent more time practicing fundamentals than just doing mindless BP activity. Most often, the coach would stand there at homeplate with a fungo bat and whack balls at us while teammates not in the field were baserunners. This pitcher covering first play was a mainstay activity here for two reasons: defense COVERS the bag and the offense RUNS though the bag.
Yep, big money players on the Yankees side screwed the pooch there. Equally important, that big money player #50 for Blue hustled his backside “down the line” and “through the bag”. Small ball play in a big game moment! Loved it.
️
excellent point
Most intelligent comment I’ve read on here in quite some time!
by far the smartest person in this thread
Two wrong choices this year. Good job, media.
Mason Miller robbed…..makes All-MLB 2nd team and not even finalist for ROY? Ok….
He finished in fourth place
Wes – Miller was robbed by his own lack of control. K’s aren’t overvalued by everybody.
FPG Miller averaged 2.9BB/9.
Gil won the ROY with far worse. Walks weren’t the reason……
Well deserved, clearly the best rookie in the American League.
…..in your mind, son.
Not just my mind, the clear majority of writers who are paid to follow the game.
Big: being that Gil won, it was in a lot of people’s minds.
Yuck in both leagues for ROY
Really disappointed that Langford wasn’t a finalist.
Yanks get an extra draft pick too!
Afraid not.
No they don’t, would have only gotten one if Wells won it.
Austin Wells finishing higher in voting than Wilyer Abreu is absolutely laughable. More New York bias simply because Wells was in the postseason and Abreu was not. What an embarassment to the game.
Laughable? Embarrassment to the game? New York bias?
LOL.
@El kabong
Its very laughable, go compare their stats side by side and tell me who you would rather have.
Good thing they vote on these before the playoffs then, huh?
Abreu from the Red Sox had a higher war than Wells and Gil. Won a gold glove and wasn’t even considered. Writers are as useless as $&@& on a bull.
Yeah I literally have no idea what those morons were thinking. Abreu was better in just about every metric AND won a gold glove.
Cheap – Blame Cora for not allowing Abreu to play more against lefties. Cora basically placed the platoon label on him.
Wells became the everyday catcher after Trevino went down. Abreu is a platoon guy who got 95% of his starts against right handed starters. A lot easier to put up numbers when you are only used in advantageous situations.
Uhhh…Abreu played in 132 games this year to Wells’ 115. I’ve never heard of a “platoon guy” playing all but 30 games in a season.
…while catching. That’s the difference for the voters.
Abreu won a gold glove in arguably the most difficult right field (Fenway) in the entire sport. The writers are buffoons.
Exactly, they would bring him in after the left handed starter left the game. This protected his numbers.
@rmullig2 Wells was also heavily platooned.
YBC – You hafta admit, having Dawn for a grandmother definitely helped.
I’m a red sox fan. Watch every game. This didn’t happen nearly as much as you imply. He was a regular starter, and a damn good one. This is a meaningless award, but it reeks of NY bias because A LOT of the writers are from NY. Wells’ stats, catcher or not, are VERY meh.
#CheapBloom Here’s a primer for you!
bbwaa.com/voting-faq/
The fact is that 95% of his starts were against a right handed starter. It would have been 98-99% if O’Neill hadn’t got hurt.
Cheap – I know you’re a Sox fan, I like your handle!
I take your word you watched every game, that’s fantastic. But you’re definitely misremembering.
Abreu sat most of the time against lefties, with Ref & Tyler rightfully getting most of those at bats.
And the stats back it up.
Abreu had only 67 PA’s against lefties, 310 players had more than him.
67 PA’s ….. that’s only 11 PA’s a month.
Everyone is considered. MLB just lists “finalists” to build drama for the announcement. But in reality there is no separate vote for the finalists. They just take the top 3 in voting and make it an event rather than just announcing the results like they used to.
I’m still surprised Abreu wasn’t ahead of Wells, but if this was fair, Miller would still have been in ahead of Abreu.
Well deserved. I think this was the correct pick.
@dark
Alot of people would disagree, including me.
WIlyer abreu should have won ROY.
That’s garbage
Thank you Minnesota!!! Sorry Jake Cave didn’t work out.
Another successful Matt Blake project!
He had a few bumps but he will be a great pitcher for years
Ok. I’d have gone Cowser but not by a landslide.
Cowser was really good but he wasn’t head and shoulders enough better to overcome the fact NY gets the most publicity and has the most writers.
Every team’s city has the same number of writers. Two. There is no “New York bias.”
Except New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago have two teams. So there is a bit of an advantage.
No. Writers only vote according to the league of the team they cover. New York Mets writers, for instance, don’t vote for American League Rookie of the Year.
Did not know that. Thanks for the info.
@hlflew,
I wonder if that will soon change now that everybody plays everybody else.
Cowser was absolutely robbed of this award. What a disgrace,
New York bias.
Congratulations to Gil!
They should really make two awards, one for rookie hitters and one for rookie pitchers in each league. Now that pitchers and hitters are 100% separate entities, they should each get the honor. It is too difficult to compare the value of a pitcher vs a hitter, WAR has a use when comparing a first baseman to a first baseman, but when trying to compare different positions it start to lose its value. Comparing pitchers to hitters is pretty much apples to oranges now.
When there is an every day / all year long player with 150 games that has deserving stats, I just don’t like the SP getting the nod. At least this guy pitched mostly a full season and his everyday counterparts weren’t glaringly deserving – ala Merrill.
Still, prefer Cowser as the everyday player.
Basically, MVP rarely has a SP in consideration so, why does ROY is my thought on the process. Whether rookie or not, if dominating every 5th day most of the year, then eligible for CY.
Cowser and Merrill were robbed. I don’t think a pitcher should ever win ROY because they don’t play everyday. MLB foreshadowed the winners during the AFL Championship. And, there is no way the media would let the Orioles win 2 years in a row. SMH, we’ll be back next year with Kjerstad and Mayo and 2026 with big Sam. When I saw that Skenes won, I knew Gil would win.
@UpintheAir,
Save your conspiracy theories. The writers don’t get together and decide who wins. They vote by secret ballot. And, of course, pitchers should be eligible. Pitching is an integral part of the game. The Orioles had better find or develop some or they won’t win anything.
Kabong: Writers should NEVER vote for awards. They are biased towards the team they cover, to get payback against a player who wouldn’t answer a question or answer it to the writer’s liking, or to make a name for themselves, like the one writer who didn’t vote for Aaron for the HOF. And he made sure everyone knew that he was the one.
Writers are certainly better voters than fans or “special committees” that put Harold Baines in the HOF.
With the same # of writers for each city bring used and voting in respective League’s they account for, biased and grades have equal opportunity to be accruued.
If it is determined by vote there will always be potential for biased or favoritism. And as for payback, that is a possibility with anything in life and something one should consider with how they conduct themselves and treat others. The media helps connect fans to these players and without fans the game does not exist. So in nearly all cases a player is reaping what they sow.
The HOF and the unanimous thing is mind boggling, I absolutely agree with you there. Those issues have manifested since the very first ballot. With the limit on players and no unanimous player in that first class it has snowballed ever since. I always find it ironic that first player was a RP, as them and DHs have always kind of been looked down upon for their somewhat limited rolls. Not saying that as a slight to Mo in anyway, he was absolutely deserving of the honor. Just ironic with his position.
Luckily we ve never seen every writer accidentally decide to be the one to abstain from voting over someone like Mantle or Jr because “they shouldn’t b unanimous if so and so wasn’t unanimous”. Voters have also admitted to viewing a player as a lock so they tried to help another players case with a vote, which could lead to same unlikely but possible outcome.
**The HOF example is only in regards to a hypothetical what if of voting and not accounting for any other reason a player might not be voted for such as PEDs or Gambino.
So ur saying cause Ohtani is a DH only he should not win MVP? News flash he will win unanimous!!!
Kjerstad i believe has too many at bats to be a rookie now.
Baseball reference says. Rookie Status: Still Intact through 2024
baseball-reference.com/players/k/kjershe01.shtml
another kyle lewis ROY pick. No body will remember Gil in 5 years.
@nailz, maybe. But he is AL ROY in prrpetuity.
Probably more akin to Michael Fulmer. Gil will still be around in 5 years, but probably in someone’s bullpen.
@nailz You appear to have said “Kyle Lewis” not “that 2019 SL ROY” winner. It’s almost as though you remember him 5 years since.
praying on someones downfall?
you seem fun at parties.
Congrats to Gil!
I’m ready for the AL/NL outrage on Thursday.
It’s funny what makes some men angry.
Creature: Thursday will be the only awards show this week that I won’t be watching. Although it might be amusing to see Ohtani and Judge fein surprise when they win their awards.
Even Ohtani’s dog will act surprised!
You think his dog placed the bets for him to win this time since he didn’t have his interpretor to blame it on??
@avengers, it should be Judge’s 3rd.
This is the first time I’m hearing about this guy
@ChristianRocker, welcome to baseball fandom. You will enjoy baseball. The best darn sport in the planet.
So newsworthy, releasing this the week before Thwnksgiving opposite Monday night football
As i mentioned in the Skenes thread MLB needs separate ROY awards for position players and Pitchers like the NFL has for offense/defense. They wouldn’t even have to give out 4 awards just do MLB rookie player and MLB rookie Pitcher. Then you could debate Skenes vs Gil and Cowser vs Merrill or whomever
I would just give the four awards.
Well deserved. He was a great pitcher who fueled my fantasy team
As an avid fantasy player, my pick was Mason Miller. No rookie was more valuable imo.
But as a Yankees fan, yay! Congratulations, Luis! He was damn good for the position he was thrown into.
I havent played fantasy since I picked Miggy’s triple crown year and some rookie named Trout and wiped the floor in my league. Some of my friends rage-quitted mid-season.
If Mason Miller was on the Yankees he would have finished…
1st
Yessir
Luis gil shouldn’t have won, Wilyer abreu should have won.
Which is a miracle based on how Boone uses his pitching staff.
If Gil was on the A’s he would have finished…
Probably 3rd
Amen
Gil won because of a 2am ballot dump.
The Twins should have held on to Gil instead of trading him to the Yankees.
Gil has played 3 years and gets the ROY
Reminds me of Geovany Soto played 4 years gets ROY
The rules governing eligibility are the same for every player. Those rules are a direct measure of true MLB experience defined clearly for both pitchers and position players.
To me the bigger issue is age, I think 25 should be the limit. Even if not in MLB the vast majority are still gaining experience playing in an organizations system, foreign league, or college. They are learning through both playing, being coached, and knowledge bestowed by veteran teammates. Although it is not the same as true MLB experience, it is still cumulative experience.
Ivan Nova 2.0
I love how this story makes absolutely ZERO mention of Gil’s W-L record for 2024. I mean, I know it’s not a sexy stat anymore, but for pure statistical interest, it ought to be included.