Yankees’ Luis Gil wins tight AL Rookie of the Year race after dominant debut

On a Clearwater, Fla., field in March, Aaron Boone looked around the visiting dugout as Luis Gil buzzed through a representative Phillies lineup.

“I kept turning, like, anyone else seeing this?” the Yankees manager said this spring.

After Gil won a job in camp and was often dominant during the season, he has earned the sport’s attention.

The right-hander became the first Yankees pitcher to win AL Rookie of the Year since Dave Righetti in 1981, and the first Yankees player since Aaron Judge in 2017, beating out Baltimore’s Colton Cowser (who finished second in a tight race) and teammate Austin Wells (third) in voting that was announced Monday night.

Gil, who tallied two more first-place votes but was listed on one fewer ballot, edged Cowser by five points in what was the second-closest election for the award since 1980. The only one closer: the Royals’ Angel Berroa over the Yankees’ Hideki Matsui by four points in 2003.

Gil came out of nowhere to first win a spot in the club’s rotation, then rose into the early Cy Young conversation and eventually settled in as officially the best rookie in the league.