Yankees Fireside Chat: Key players are making some important changes

Yesterday was a fun one for the Yankees, who had some of their key contributors on the bus to Dunedin, and there were some new tricks up their sleeves.

In between the myriad of ABS challenges that flooded the contest, the Yankees had some important pitchers on the bump who could play a big role on the 2026 team.

From Will Warren to Brent Headrick, there were some fun changes they made which could lead to a strong campaign, but the Yankees also saw a savvy veteran tweaking things in his mechanics as well.

We’re breaking down all of my takeaways from their 8-7 win and how they could impact the team when the games start actually mattering.

READ MORE: The Yankees dropping $4 million on Paul Goldschmidt was a brilliant move

Will Warren’s Subtle Tweak Could Lead to 2026 Breakout

The first outing of Spring Training was a fascinating one for Will Warren, since while there were not massive material changes to his pitch mix, there were some interesting ones with his mound positioning.

Gary Phillips of The New York Daily News wrote about how the right-hander is positioning himself on the third-base side of the rubber rather than the first-base side, which has widened his release point.

His goal was to create more optimal attack angles for his pitches, and he might be able to accomplish just that with how unique the release traits we saw in Dunedin were.

Will Warren’s horizontal release point increased from 2.5 feet last year to 3.5 feet in his 2026 debut, creating one of the widest release points from a right-handed pitcher in all of baseball.

The ability to spin the ball east-west with his sinker and sweeper can really benefit from this, pitches with large lateral break coming from these wide release points create sharp Horizontal Approach Angles that influence swing decisions.

As a RHP, Warren’s sinker will get more called strikes when throwing it glove-side (first-base side of the plate) and more swings when throwing it arm-side (third-base side of the plate).

For his sweeper, he can get more swings when throwing it glove-side and called strikes when throwing it arm-side, which could allow Will Warren to improve his ability to get swings out of zone and miss bats in-zone.

He was in the 8th Percentile in Chase% and the 44th Percentile in Whiff% last season, if both of those markers can improve as a result of having a more deceptive release point, then he could be a stud pitcher for the Yankees.

Another small tweak of note was that his four-seam shape changed a lot, it lost over 2 inches of run while gaining nearly over an inch of ride, an indication that he’s getting behind the ball better.

This fastball had a Whiff% over 40% yesterday, and I’m really excited about how these small changes can help him over the course of the 2026 season.

Paul Goldschmidt’s Small Stance Tweak

When the Yankees announced that Paul Goldschmidt would return on a one-year $4 million deal they made it clear that Ben Rice would be the primary starter at first and would still get some run against LHP.

That being said, they brought back Goldschmidt for a reason and still believe in him to provide some thump against southpaws, as he made some changes to keep him in the game for just a bit longer.

Goldschmidt’s hands aren’t resting on his shoulder as much, it’s almost as if he’s ready to swing sooner in his load and might be a way to counteract the natural regression that comes with age.

He has conceded where he can make contact relative to the plate, catching the ball later in his swing which results in fewer pulled flyballs and less damage overall, but this might keep his contact quality from slipping further.

We’re past the stage of hoping for progression from Goldschmidt, he has serious collapse risk as a near-40 year old hitter, but the goal is to stave off retirement for another season.

I’ll be curious to see if he can keep it going against lefties and remain a 100-105 OPS+ bat overall, the Yankees might need him to play more than expected if Giancarlo Stanton goes down.

Can Brent Headrick Make the Yankees’ Bullpen?

I think the Yankees are going to have a difficult decision to make about their bullpen at some point this season because of how good Brent Headrick is.

The left-hander displayed a 19 IVB fastball sitting at 95 MPH with 7 feet of extension yesterday, it’s one of the best fastballs in the organization and he is able to just blow past hitters with that dominant weapon.

We all know he has a good fastball though; my question is whether his seconsaries can be up to snuff to allow the Yankees to throw him against quality offenses.

The slider he showed is a good pitch, it doesn’t stand out for any reason but it drops a lot off of his four-seamer and can get chases out of zone.

What really stood out to me was the new sinker, which should give him a new weapon against lefties who did some damage against him last season.

A combination of a high release height, wide release point, and plus extension makes this sinker a real counter to same-handed batters, who slugged .622 against him in his limited MLB experience.

I’m all in on the Brent Headrick train, but with limited bullpen spots, he might not even make this team out of camp which is something I worried about when they signed Paul Blackburn on top of Ryan Yarbrough.

Injuries will likely pop up to create an opening, I just don’t think the Yankees are throwing out their best 26-man roster if Headrick is not on it.