Yankees could get Luis Gil back after one more rehab start

ATLANTA — Luis Gil to the rescue?

It is too soon to make such a declaration, but after a second straight successful rehab start with Double-A Somerset for the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, he is inching closer to returning to a rotation that desperately needs a spark.

Gil, who threw 50 pitches in his first rehab start with Somerset, threw 57 pitches in a 3 1/3-inning outing on Friday night in which he allowed two runs, two hits and two walks. He struck out seven.

“I actually watched the outing this morning,” manager Aaron Boone said before Saturday night’s game against Atlanta. “Stuff was good. Had swing and miss, I thought decent command. And more importantly, another step in kind of building that pitch count up. Overall, another positive step.”

Before Friday night’s loss, Boone indicated that Gil, 25, who went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts last season, will not need the maximum 30 days on his rehab clock (it is 20 days for position players).

Boone said Gil will be bumped to 65 pitches in his next scheduled start, Wednesday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with a return to the Yankees on the table after that.

“We’ll decide at that point if we want one more [rehab start] to get him over 70 [pitches] that last one or do we take him at that time?” Boone said on Friday. “So I would say at least two more [counting Friday’s outing] for sure and maybe even a third, but we’ll see.”

Getting Gil back around the July 31 trade deadline could be a boost for the rotation, but that doesn’t change general manager Brian Cashman’s priority list.

Acquiring starting pitching depth has been a pressing matter for the organization since spring training, when Gerrit Cole went down for the season because of Tommy John surgery and Gil started his lengthy stint on the injured list with a right lat strain. Though the rotation pitched better than expected the first two-plus months of the season, the behind-the-scenes feeling of needing additional organizational depth never dissipated.

That feeling leaped from behind the scenes into the public sphere earlier this month when Clarke Schmidt suffered a UCL tear in his right elbow that required Tommy John surgery that will cost him the rest of this season and, likely, most if not all of next season.

Add in the blister issue that cropped up last weekend for ace Max Fried — the expectation is that he  will be cleared to start Wednesday's game in Toronto — and rookie righthander Cam Schlittler experiencing “upper arm soreness” earlier in the week,  according to Boone, added urgency to the need. (Boone hopes Schlittler can be reinserted into the rotation, like Fried, during next week’s series in Toronto, with his day likely Tuesday.)

Securing another starting pitcher will be difficult enough, but when you throw in the Yankees’ equally desperate need for bullpen help and a third baseman, well, that’s a tall order of a to-do list to check off before July 31.

“Whether it’s bullpen guys or starting pitchers, it’s just all of it. That’s the area,” Cashman said on July 9. “We have people that are capable, but I think it also needs to get some help. And if I can do so, great. But again, there’s no guarantees. We’re going to be fully engaged and see where it takes us. Hopefully we can run into some opportunities that can benefit us.”

The Yankees, like many contending teams, have had their pro scouts fanned out across the sport the last couple of weeks. According to multiple rival talent evaluators, among the teams the Yankees recently have sent their pro scouts to see — or are seeing this weekend — are the Twins, Pirates, Orioles, Diamondbacks, Reds, Rockies and Atlanta.

Still, as Cashman indicated, there are no guarantees that the Yankees will make all the pitching acquisitions they need because, in the words of one rival AL evaluator, “there’s about 20 teams, it seems, looking for the same things.”

Meaning, starters and relievers.

Which makes an effective Gil, when he returns, potentially that much more important.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.