This rookie pitcher has been a game-changer for the Yankees this season

Starting pitcher looked to be a huge question for the New York Yankees at the start of the season due mounting injuries, including the uncertainty around reigning American League Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. 

Through the first two months of the season, however, the starting pitching has actually turned into a gigantic strength with everybody in the rotation performing well above a league average rate. 

The best of those pitchers has been rookie Luis Gil who had another dominant start on Thursday afternoon in a 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.

Gil pitched into the seventh inning, allowing zero runs, one hit, walking two and striking out eight.

That performance dropped his season ERA down to 2.11. He has not only emerged as a leading front-runner for the American League rookie of the year award, he has also rapidly become one of the best starting pitchers in the league.

That is an enormous game-changer for a Yankees team that is looking to rebound from a disappointing 2023 season. 

With Gil emerging, alongside big years from Marcus Stroman, Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes, the Yankees have the making of a potentially dominant rotation when Cole returns to the lineup.

The offseason additions of Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo took the lineup to an entirely new level, taking some of the pressure off of Aaron Judge to no longer have to carry the entire team. That has certainly helped elevate the Yankees' ceiling.

The improvement of the rotation, as well as the development of Gil, is what might help make them a bonafide World Series contender.