Today, New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil won the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year honors while Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes won the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Award.
This marks the first time two starting pitchers have won Rookie of the Year honors in both leagues since 1981 when Dave Righetti won AL Rookie of the Year with the Yankees while the late Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela won NL Rookie of the Year honors (as well as the NL Cy Young Award).
After cups of coffee with the Bronx Bombers in 2021 and 2022, Gil had a breakthrough campaign going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts. Gil fanned 171 batters in 151.2 innings pitched though he did lead the AL in walks with 77. Still, Gil was an integral part of the Yankees AL championship this past season.
Meanwhile, Skenes was just about the only thing Pirates fans had to cheer about in 2024. In 23 starts, Skenes went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA fanning 170 batters in 133 innings pitched. Skenes might have won the ERA title but was 29 innings short of eligibility. Skenes was also the NL starting pitcher in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.
The question is who the better pitcher from will be here on out.
I'm sure conventional wisdom would be on Skenes as he reached MLB less than a year after being the number one pick in the 2023 MLB draft. At 22, Skenes hasn't reached his ceiling. Gil, 26, has been a pro for almost 10 years since he signed with the Minnesota Twins out of the Dominican Republic before joining the Yankees organization in 2018.
Of course, a lot of it has to do with health. Gil missed much of 2022 and all of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. Will this be in Skenes' future as well?
At least for the foreseeable future, Gil and Skenes will loom large in respective pitching plans of the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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