Yankees' Will Warren waits for his chance, and odds are, he'll get it

TAMPA, Fla. — After yet another successful outing this spring — this one Tuesday afternoon against the Phillies in Clearwater — Will Warren was asked about trying to “make” the team out of camp.

It was here Warren could have copped a line from Marcus Stroman, the veteran who lockers nearby the Yankees righthanded pitching prospect at Steinbrenner Field and is often seen talking with the 25-year-old.

“I don’t think I’m competing at all,” Stroman said earlier in the spring.

The context, of course, is different for both pitchers. But both are truisms.

At the time Stroman said it, he wasn’t competing for a rotation job because there was no competition. If the rotation broke camp healthy, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil were the starting five.

That equation changed when Gil pulled himself from a bullpen last Friday after a handful of pitches, complaining of tightness in his shoulder area. Monday brought the news Gil had suffered a high-grade lat strain, with no official timetable of when he’d be back, other than manager Aaron Boone saying the reigning AL Rookie of the Year wouldn’t be throwing for “at least” six weeks.

Regardless, with Gil slated to begin the season on the injured list, the vacated rotation spot automatically went to Stroman, who is 87-85 with a 3.72 ERA in 10 seasons. He’s been successful and durable in that time, averaging 25 starts per year.

The truth is, Warren was in a true competition last spring when Cole’s injury left open the fifth starter job. Warren was in serious consideration for it but eventually bypassed by Gil, whose final three outings of camp were so electric the Yankees would have been guilty of organizational negligence if they didn’t give the latter a shot.

Gil’s return is very much up in the air, but there is no “competition” in the strictest sense of the word for his spot. It is Stroman’s.

Which doesn’t mean Warren’s spring is any less important.

Because when it comes to the rotation, he’s very likely next in line. And during any given major-league season — or, as is seen across the sport during spring training as injuries frequently occur — that line is constantly moving.

Big-league clubs going into a season generally plan on needing 10-12 pitchers to make starts. Sometimes it’s less than that — the Yankees were remarkably healthy in the rotation in 2024, needing just eight starting pitchers — but oftentimes it’s more than that.

The defending champion Dodgers, as one example, had 17 different pitchers make starts in 2024. For the reigning NL East champion Phillies, their rotation pretty healthy for the most part, that number was still 12. The seemingly always pitching-rich Guardians, winners of the AL Central? 14.

And on it goes.

Though publicly the Yankees have said they’re comfortable with their rotation depth, on the outside there is far more skepticism.

“Thin,” one rival American League scout assigned to the Yankees said of the group’s depth. “Really thin.”

It should be noted that privately that is a source of angst for the organization. After Warren, for instance, a pair of non-roster invitees, Carlos Carrasco and Allan Winans — both of whom have thrown well this spring — probably are next on the depth chart.

Hence, the importance of Warren’s spring.

An eighth-round pick in 2021, Warren struggled much of last season in the minors and, though he showed flashes of what made him a top prospect when brought up to the majors, he posted a 10.32 ERA in six appearances (five starts), the opposition accruing a 1.012 OPS against him.

The early returns on Warren this spring is he’s a vastly improved pitcher — his focus has been on better fastball command and adding a curveball to his repertoire — something not only he and the Yankees have said, but rivals, too.

“Fastball command is better,” one National League scout, who saw Warren last spring and then in the minors, said via text Wednesday. “Not as many big misses, more conviction in his pitch selection. In the past it’s almost like he wanted to show every hitter four different pitches. Looks like he is trusting himself more. I was pleased with what I saw compared to the last few years.”

Warren, who carries himself with a quiet confidence, has been pleased as well.

“Just experience-wise, a lot of downs last year, unfortunately,” Warren said. “But [you] learn from them and moved on.”

Barring another spring injury in the rotation, Warren won’t right away get a chance to apply what he’s learned in the majors. But, because of the inevitable in-season attrition, his chance will come soon enough.

That chance, too, will come for quite a few others.