"King of the Gil" - Aaron Judge lauds Yankees pitcher Luis Gil's close victory over Orioles' Colton Cowser for 2024 AL ROY Award
New York Yankees ace Luis Gil was named the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year on Monday in what turned out to be a close race against Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colten Cowser. Gil received 15 first-place votes and 106 points, while Cowser fell short of five points after receiving 13 first-place votes.
This AL Rookie of the Year turned out to be the second closest since 1980. In 2003, Angel Berroa defeated Hideki Matsui with an 88-84 margin.
On learning the news, Yankees captain Aaron Judge was among the first to congratulate Gil for the achievement. He reshared the post announcing Gil as AL ROY along with a note, hyping him, saying:
"Let's goooo!! ROY!! Congrats on a great year brother! King of the Gil!!" Judge wrote.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone also praised Gil for a phenomenal rookie season.
“Congratulations to Luis on an amazing season,” Boone said in a statement. “He worked so hard to put himself in a strong position heading into Spring Training after coming back from Tommy John surgery. Without a guarantee of a Major League spot, he absolutely kicked in the door this spring and went on to have a phenomenal rookie season.”
Luis Gil becomes first Yankee since Aaron Judge to win ROY
Luis Gil was the 10th Yankee named Rookie of the Year in franchise history. The last time a Yankee won the honor was current captain Aaron Judge, who did it in 2017. Interestingly, Gil is the first rookie Yankees pitcher to win the award since Dave Righetti (1981).
“It means so much to me,” Gil said through an interpreter after winning the award. “I’m so happy about being able to win this award. Everybody in my corner, they’re so happy for me right now and so proud. I’m also proud of the opportunity that was given to me by the team. It turned out to be a great season for me, a great experience.”
Right around mid-March, the Yankees lost Gerrit Cole for a few months, paving the way for Boone to start Luis Gil. Fast forward nine months and the pitcher posted a 15-7 record with a 3.50 ERA and 171 strikeouts.