Will Warren got thrown to the fire during the 2025 season as the Yankees dealt with numerous injuries throughout Spring Training which forced him into the rotation.
The organization maintained their faith in the right-hander despite a hideous debut stint in 2024 where he recorded a 10.32 ERA in 22.2 IP, and that ended up paying off for the club.
Not only did he make every start, tallying 33 on the season, but he also was a league-average run preventor with good underlying metrics to suggest he had some poor fortune.
He found himself as the season went on, and now entering 2026 he won’t have to compete for his spot in the starting five entering camp, rather being in a position where the Yankees are turning to him as one of their rotational bedrocks.
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The Secret Behind a Will Warren Breakout For the Yankees
When the Yankees selected Will Warren out of little-known Southeastern Louisiana, he was nothing resembling the pitcher he is today.
New York helped him add a sinker and sweeper that have become pillars for his repertoire, but it was his four-seam fastball that came back into vogue for him during 2025.
Warren used his four-seamer 41.6% of the time, by far the most of any other pitch in his mix, and batters hit just .216 against it with a .384 SLG%.
The reason this pitch works so well for Warren is because of his low arm angle which generates more vertical ride than hitters usually anticipate alongside the excellent extension he gets.
His sinker and sweeper were the second and third highest usage rate pitches in his mix, and that trio wiped out righties to the tune of a 29.2% K% and .398 SLG%, but his matchups against lefties were where he got crushed.
Against lefties, Will Warren committed the three Cardinal Sins of pitching; not missing bats, issuing a lot of walks, and giving up a lot of damage contact.
The good thing is that unlike some other east-west pitchers, Warren has the ability to overcome these weaknesses with his already-existing pitches.
One of the biggest adjustments Warren made midseason was decreasing his sweeper usage in these right-on-left matchups, incorporating his sinker, changeup, and curveball more as a result.
Weirdly enough his sinker does profile well in these matchups if he throws them front-hip because the extreme tail he gets on that pitch tends to freeze them.
I find the most important weapon for Will Warren’s success in these matchups is tied to his changeup which has tons of drop and flashed big swing-and-miss potential during the season.
Lefties hit .203 with a 31.6% Whiff% against his changeup this past season and the more he uses it in 2026, the more success he’ll have against opposite-handed hitters because it pairs very well with his fastball.
We’ve seen the organization work well with changeups in recent years as offspeed pitches are more in-demand than ever before, and you can’t sneeze at the one Will Warren is throwing.
If the Yankees can help him find that changeup, he could cover up his greatest weakness and become a no. 2-3 starter for this ballclub.