Alexander Wilson
The New York Yankees traded for Ryan Weathers knowing exactly what they were getting: a 26-year-old left-hander with genuine talent, a history of volatility, and a career that has been interrupted by injuries at every turn. He has never thrown 95 innings in a season. His career high came in his rookie year in 2021, and it’s been a ceiling he’s never approached since. In 2024 he threw 86.2 innings. Last year he managed 38.1. The Yankees took the bet anyway because the stuff was too good to ignore, and so far that bet looks like it’s paying off.
Weathers comes off his best start of the season against the Royals, tossing 7.1 scoreless innings and striking out eight on his way to an easy win. His ERA sits at 3.18 over 28.1 innings, which is more than he threw in all of 2025, and his strikeout rate has reached a career-high 11.44 per nine. He’s limiting his walks, his velocity looks good, and the underlying metrics are pointing in the right direction. For a pitcher the Yankees acquired primarily hoping he would stay healthy long enough to be useful, this is considerably better than the baseline expectation.
What’s Working For The Yankees
The sweeper is the most encouraging development, and I think it’s the pitch that ultimately determines how good Weathers can be this season. On 18.9% usage, batters are hitting .000 against it with a 47.6% whiff rate and a 47.4% put-away rate. That is an elite put-away pitch by any reasonable definition, and his pitch-level numbers this season make the case that he should be deploying it more aggressively than he currently is. When hitters are swinging through nearly half his sweepers and not making a single hit off it, you lean on that pitch.
He’s also shifted his pitch mix in a meaningful way, using his four-seamer far less and leaning more heavily on his sinker this year. The sinker results haven’t been great, but the shift in approach makes sense given how his fastball profiles against advanced lineups. The goal is to generate more weak contact and stay out of the air, and his 38% ground ball rate suggests that mindset is at least partially translating.
He also ranks in the 81st percentile in chase rate and 87th in strikeout rate, which tells you hitters are having real difficulty solving him. The hard contact rate is the blemish on the profile right now, and the home runs have been a concern. But a pitcher with that strikeout rate who also keeps hitters chasing is going to get results even if individual pitches occasionally get punished.
The Injury Question Is the Only One That Matters
Here’s my honest take: Weathers being productive doesn’t surprise me. His stuff was always good enough for this. What has surprised me is his durability through the first month of the season, and that’s the storyline I’m watching more closely than his ERA.
The Yankees are managing him carefully, monitoring his velocity throughout each start and making sure he isn’t ramping up too aggressively. That’s the right approach. Getting seven innings out of him against the Royals was a great sign, but the real test isn’t whether he can pitch well in late April. It’s whether he’s still out there pitching in August.
If he is, the Yankees got a serious steal.
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