Yankees News: Max Fried Opening Day, Elmer Rodriguez dominance, Luis Gil

The New York Yankees are now less than two weeks away from Opening Day. It's a cause for celebration. Soon, real baseball will be upon us. In the meantime, we've seen a lot of tidbits and buzz come out about a variety of arms recently to keep us going until the Yankees travel to San Francisco to take on the Giants and kick off the 2026 campaign.

If you've been holding your breath waiting to find out who will be taking the mound for New York in the opener, you can stop. Maybe ask yourself why you put yourself through that. The suspense is over, in what was one of the most obvious decisions of all time, Aaron Boone announced that Max Fried will get the ball on the March 25 opener.

The All-Star lefty first appeared this spring in a World Baseball Classic warmup against Team Panama. He made his second spring start on Monday, March 9, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, tossing four innings of one-run ball while striking out six and throwing 67 pitches in total. He'll get one more tune-up before the season begins, and then he will be good to go.

Yankees' Elmer Rodriguez once again dazzles for Team Puerto Rico, Luis Gil shows intriguing stuff

Yankees No. 3 prospect Elmer Rodriguez continues to impress every time he takes the ball. After six impressive spring innings with the Yankees, he joined Team Puerto Rico and dominated his former team, the Boston Red Sox, throwing up three scoreless innings in a WBC tune-up.

On Monday, he took the mound against Cuba in a matchup of then-undefeated teams looking for Pool A superiority. In the pressure-packed contest, he once again shone bright.

Twirling another three scoreless frames, the 22-year-old struck out three while walking three and giving up just one hit. In the outing, he threw six different pitches and posted a 36% whiff rate and a max fastball velocity of 97.4 miles per hour. The more you see of him, the better he looks.

Meanwhile, Luis Gil is another guy who is having a big spring, and boy, did he need it. At the end of last season, many were ready to give up on the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, or at least relegate him to the bullpen.

However, a week ago Gil carved up the Red Sox and gave us a glimpse that his fastball velocity and electric stuff were returning after looking down in a 2025 campaign that was heavily impacted by a spring training lat injury.

Gil got the start again on Tuesday and struck out four over 3 1/3 innings. His fastball averaged 95.5 miles per hour, a slight uptick from last season's 95.2 mph average, but still down from his 96.6 mark in 2024. Still, he topped out at 97.3, and his stuff graded out as well above average.

Gil added some additional context with postgame comments, leaving more reason to believe he could get back on track in 2026.

The key for the oft-injured 27-year-old will be staying healthy, and the jury is still out as to whether he can hold up over a full season. For now, though, he's showing encouraging signs that his dynamic stuff is returning. He also didn't walk a batter in his outing against Philadelphia, and has shown good command this spring, mostly avoiding the walks that plagued him last season.

The Yankees' rotation will undergo changes through the season as Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole return from injury, making it imperative for pitchers like Gil to prove their worth to preserve their spots.