Yankees: 4 players the organization ruined in 2021

3. Luis Gil

OK, this might be a tad harsh because Gil is far from ruined, but he’s clearly not the same guy he was in August!

To kick off his MLB career, the Yankees top pitching prospect hurled three straight scoreless outings in his first three appearances. He made Yankees history and MLB history when you dive deeper into the specifics of it.

Incredible! Ride the hot hand, especially with Corey Kluber on the shelf, among other factors affecting the pitching staff as a whole. But let us ask you something: do the Yankees ever ride the hot hand?

After his third impressive performance, which featured 4.2 scoreless frames against the Red Sox, Gil was sent back down to the minors. That part wasn’t even the most indefensible decision!

Three weeks later, the Yankees thought bringing Gil back up to the bigs to face a blistering hot Blue Jays squad to snap a four-game losing streak was the right call! How?! You just rewarded him after three spotless outings with three weeks in the middle of Pennsylvania, and now you’re going to ask him to face arguably the best offense in the American League in a near-must-win situation?

Gil’s last two outings were unsurprisingly bad. Against the Jays, he walked seven batters in 3.1 frames and then Lucas Luetge’s awful relief appearances charged Gil with his first earned runs of the year. The Yankees lost that game. Then, on Monday against the Twins, though it ended with a Yankees victory, Gil was battered to the tune of five earned runs on seven hits (three homers!) and a walk.

Walks are one thing. Gil’s notoriously had control problems throughout his minor-league journey. But the sudden onslaught of dingers?

The Yankees were on a hot run at the blackjack table, pulled the house money back in the middle of the streak, and decided to go piss it all away at the roulette table. Why?