Two of baseball’s top rookie pitchers were in action on Tuesday, with Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes taking on the St. Louis Cardinals and Luis Gil of the New York Yankees opposing the New York Mets.
During TBS’ broadcast of the Subway Series game, Skenes’ name came up. And it led to a comparison from play-by-play man Brian Anderson.
“You could make a strong case for Luis Gil in the Rookie of the Year race if not for Paul Skenes, who’s gonna be a runaway winner,” Anderson said.
As good as Gil has been, Skenes has been better. So, Anderson’s take would be pretty strong if not for one factor. The Pirates play in the National League while the Yankees are an American League team. A Rookie of the Year is awarded in each league. The two aren’t competing for the same prize.
Of course, while he doesn’t have to contend with Skenes, Gil has plenty of formidable competition in the American League.
DraftKings (H/T Foxsports.com) had Gil (+225) second in its American League Rookie of the Year odds, trailing only Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers (+125). Skenes (-1000) is the runaway favorite in the National League over current No. 2, Jackson Merrill (+500) of the San Diego Padres.
But unless something drastic and completely unforeseen happens at the trade deadline, Gil won’t have to worry about losing votes to Skenes.
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