Luis Gil carved up the Orioles on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium in a pitching debut the visitors can still only dream of.
The Orioles have pitching prospects, to be sure, and opposite Gil was one of six rookies to start a game for them this season. In so many facets, none was like the hard-throwing, 23-year-old right-hander the Yankees threw at them to replace Gerrit Cole on the mound.
For starters, there’s the velocity: Gil averaged 95.8 mph on his fastball and was up to 98.5 mph, getting nine swinging strikes on the pitch to help him strike out six.