Yankees' Luis Gil, Aaron Judge win May honors, Juan Soto named AL Player of the Week

NEW YORK – A sensational month of May that saw the Yankees win 21 of 28 games also resulted in a collection of personal awards.

Luis Gil won both the AL Pitcher and AL Rookie of the Month award, and captain Aaron Judge was the AL Player of the Month, while Juan Soto was named the AL Player of the Week.

With the right-handed Gil set to start Tuesday night’s series opener for the AL East leading Yankees (42-19) against the Minnesota Twins (33-26) at Yankee Stadium, here’s a look at the award winners:

Luis Gil

Award: AL Pitcher of the Month, AL Rookie of the Month

Summary: Gil used his electric fastball-changeup-slider arsenal to post a 6-0 record in six starts, with a 0.70 ERA in May, claiming both awards and lowering his seasonal ERA to 1.99.

That’s the fourth lowest ERA for a Yankees starter (minus openers) through the first 11 starts of a season since 1995.

For the month, opposing hitters batted just .109 against Gil, who posted a 3.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio and more than solidified his place in the Yankees rotation.

Managing his workload, coming off two essentially lost seasons due to rehab from Tommy John surgery, will be something to watch during the second half.

Bonus stat: In five home starts this year, Gil is 4-0 with a 1.27 ERA, and he’s yielded just one home run in 112 batters faced at Yankee Stadium.

Extra point: Gil became just the first Yankees’ pitcher to win the AL Rookie of the Month award, since its inception in 2001 according to MLB.com.

Aaron Judge

Award: AL Player of the Month

Summary: Judge’s average sunk to .197 on May 2, and he went on an absolute tear from there.

In 28 games, Judge batted .361 with a 1.397 OPS and 27 RBI.

Judge became just the second player in MLB history to collect at least 14 home runs and 12 doubles in a single calendar month (Cleveland’s Albert Belle had 14 homers, 13 doubles in August 1995).

With those 26 extra-base hits in May, Judge matched Babe Ruth (June 1921, July 1924) for the third-most extra-base hits by a Yankee in one calendar month, trailing only Joe DiMaggio (31, July 1937) and Lou Gehrig (29, July 1930).

Bonus stat: The Yankees are 18-2 this year in games when Judge has homered.

Extra point: This is the third straight May that Judge has won AL Player of the Month.

Last year, he batted .342 with a 1.356 OPS, 12 homers and 25 RBI in 21 May games. In 2022, he batted .311 with a 1.077 OPS, 12 homers and 25 RBI in 27 games.

Juan Soto

Award: AL Player of the Week

Summary: In six games, across Anaheim and San Francisco, Soto batted .435 (10-for-23) with three homers, two triples, nine RBI and a 1.500 OPS.

Soto capped off the week with two homers on Sunday, including a go-ahead, two-run shot in the ninth inning, boosting the Yankees to a comeback win against the Giants.

In his last 15 games, since May 18, Soto is batting .386 (22-for-57) with 16 runs scored, eight home runs and 19 RBI.

Bonus stat: Soto has played in 224 consecutive games dating to late 2022 with the San Diego Padres, the second longest current string in the majors.

Extra point: It’s the second time this year that Soto has claimed AL Player of the Week honors.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Yankees' Luis Gil, Aaron Judge win May honors, Juan Soto named AL Player of the Week