Yankees News: Luis Gil, Anthony Volpe, historic 5-0 start, Roki Sasaki

The New York Yankees are 5-0 after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2 on Monday night. That's five wins in five days against two of the league's top contenders, and the starting rotation will now reset at the top come Tuesday night.

The loss of Gerrit Cole will undoubtedly hurt this team at some point, but the current collection of arms has battled. Luis Gil was the latest to get the ball Monday and he impressed in his first outing since May 12, 2022. He earned a spot out of camp due to injuries and he's not planning on letting it go.

Though he didn't get the win because manager Aaron Boone pulled him before he could complete five innings, the right-hander allowed just one run on one hit and three walks while striking out six over 4.2 frames. Gil labored a bit, tossing 84 pitches, but it didn't seem to be an issue at all.

The 25-year-old hit triple digits on his fastball and was consistently blowing it by the D-backs offense, who scored 32 runs in their first four games.

Yankees News: Luis Gil, Anthony Volpe, historic 5-0 start, Roki Sasaki

Not bad for a guy who's coming off Tommy John surgery and has barely pitched since the start of 2022. If he continues to perform, the Yankees will be able to weather the current and future injury issues with the rotation.

As for the offense, Anthony Volpe carried the team with a 4-for-4 effort -- his first career four-hit came since debuting at the start of the 2023 season. After missing Sunday's game with a stomach issue, Volpe returned Monday, spraying the ball to all fields and terrorizing the D-backs on the base paths.

Volpe had half the team's hits and contributed three of the five runs (two scored, one RBI). Gleyber Torres logged a two-hit game and notched an RBI. Oswaldo Cabrera kept his hot streak alive with an RBI single and a run scored. Nothing fancy, but Volpe's start to 2024 is foreshadowing a monster year. He's batting .571 with a 1.667 OPS to follow up his strong (but flawed) rookie campaign.

And his offensive showing led the Yankees to their first 5-0 start since ... 1992! That's over 30 years! Now, there is a bad omen here -- the last time the Yankees finished below .500 was 1992. We'll conveniently ignore that for the time being, though, because this team has done a complete 180 from 2023, a season in which they were truly in danger of finishing below .500.

It's just the fifth time in the Yankees' storied franchise history that they've gotten off to this start, so fans are riding high after the unexpected resilience despite so many concerns heading into 2024. A little win streak helps you forget about all the bad things, which is something the team could've offered from time to time during 2023's hellscape.

But we're on to bigger and better things. Whatever 2024 holds, it already feels special. As for the offseason? The Yankees will be aiming high once again. Per reports, they're already scouting Japanese star Roki Sasaki, who will likely be coming to MLB in 2025.

The 22-year-old Sasaki is the next prized talent to come out of Japan. Shohei Ohtani arrived in 2018 and then names like Seiya Suzuki, Kodai Senga, Shota Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed. The Yankees got burned on Yamamoto this offseason, so perhaps they'll tread a bit more lightly on Sasaki, who has even less experience but will probably end up breaking the bank as teams are expected to escalate the bidding war.

Bookmark that for later, though. The Yankees are 5-0 and have two games left before they return to the Bronx for their 2024 home opener on Friday. Nestor Cortes vs Zac Gallen, coming right up!