MEXICO CITY — If the Yankees were going to need to find a fifth starter this spring, Luis Gil wouldn’t have necessarily topped their list entering camp.

But as Gerrit Cole went down with an elbow injury, Gil’s electric stuff and arrow shot up, forcing his way into the conversation and ultimately winning the job.

Aaron Boone announced Sunday that Gil (pronounced heel) will start the season in the Yankees’ rotation as the fifth starter, taking the open spot created by Cole’s injury with a standout spring that went beyond the team’s expectations.

“Feel like the way Luis has thrown the ball, really from the jump, he’s certainly earned that with how he’s performed,” Boone said before the Yankees played Diablos Rojos del Mexico at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. “Continue to be really excited about what he can be as a starting pitcher.”

The 25-year-old right-hander’s primary competition for the job was Will Warren, though Boone said Warren not yet being on the 40-man roster did not have anything to do with him not claiming the role.

The 24-year-old Warren impressed the Yankees in his first big-league camp and will likely make his way to The Bronx at some point this season, but Gil will get the first crack.

Despite not having pitched in the big leagues since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022, Gil opened plenty of eyes inside and outside of the organization with a terrific spring, posting a 2.87 ERA with 23 strikeouts across 15 ²/₃ innings.

His stuff has only ticked up since he returned from the elbow surgery, adding some velocity to his elite fastball that flirts with triple-digits and refining his changeup into a real pitch along with his slider.

The Yankees had optioned him to minor league camp in early March, but he came back into the picture once Cole’s elbow flared up.

On the same day Cole underwent an MRI, Gil turned in his headline outing of camp against the Phillies’ A-lineup, striking out eight across 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings.

“I think it put him back on the radar in the short term, like, ‘OK, he’s further along and more ready than certainly maybe even I thought,’ ” Boone said. “So that definitely got our attention, as well as how he’s looked leading up to that. Excited about where he was health-wise, but didn’t necessarily expect him to be this far along just from a polish standpoint. He’s done a great job with his secondary stuff, his fastball continues to be terrific and he seems really focused and in a good place. Feel like he’s the guy that’s earned it.”

By the time Boone and a Yankees split-squad flew from Tampa to Mexico on Saturday night, the team had still not made a final decision on its fifth starter.

That came Sunday morning, when pitching coach Matt Blake and general manager Brian Cashman gave Gil the news back in Tampa.

Along with Warren, other candidates for the fifth-starter job included Cody Poteet, Clayton Beeter and Luke Weaver.

The Yankees will likely need all of them to contribute in some fashion over the course of the season, but what they showed this spring has Boone encouraged about the club’s pitching depth after they traded away much of it over the offseason.

Gil’s first start will come next Monday against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix as the Yankees are expected to be without Cole for at least the first two months of the season.

While Gil has thrown just 29 ²/₃ innings since the start of the 2022 season (including just four last year), the Yankees are not putting any innings restrictions on him to begin the season.

“I feel like the way we’re able to monitor and measure guys’ output and what they’re able to do not only on the mound but in between starts gives us a more clear idea than in the past, when you just jump up this many,” Boone said. “We’re in a better position to make better calls on that. So it may turn into an innings limit, it may get to that point, but we’re not going in setting any innings limit.”