The New York Yankees started the 2025 season with more questions than answers in the back half of their starting rotation.
Now, one of those question marks might be turning into an exclamation point.
The emergence of 25-year-old Will Warren couldn’t have been scripted better for a team that needed support behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodón.
While veteran Carlos Carrasco was always a long shot to survive the Yankees’ regular-season roster, Warren’s rise has been equal parts timely and thrilling.
Will Warren delivers against a contender
Tuesday night against the Texas Rangers, Warren looked like he belonged. And then some.
The young righty tossed 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing just five hits with one walk. It took him 101 pitches to navigate a dangerous lineup, but he walked off the mound with a 4.05 ERA and even more believers.
This wasn’t just a flash in the pan — it was the continuation of a breakout stretch.
Over his last three starts, Warren has given up just three earned runs across 18 innings, fanning 26 hitters in that span.
He’s not just pitching well — he’s figuring things out in real time.
“I think I was close this whole time. It’s just like I talk about, the execution, just sticking with our plan and trusting that I’m here for a reason,” Warren said after Tuesday’s performance.
Finding the right pitch mix at the right time
Warren isn’t overpowering hitters with 98-mph heat. In fact, his fastball topped out at just 95 mph on Tuesday.
But it’s the way he’s mixing speeds and locations that’s making him so tough to square up.
He leaned on a fastball-sinker-sweeper combination to keep Rangers hitters off balance, pounding the top of the zone with four-seamers and working down with movement.
Only four balls were hit hard, and he allowed just four fly balls — clear signs of weak contact and command of his game plan.
While his fastball command remains a work in progress, his ability to induce ground balls and generate whiffs continues to trend upward.
He now ranks in the 80th percentile in strikeout rate and sits above average in whiff percentage — strong indicators for future success.
Why this couldn’t have happened at a better moment
The Yankees were forced to move Carrasco to Triple-A after six starts that yielded little promise.
In most seasons, that could have spelled trouble. But Warren’s development gave them an easy pivot — and now it’s looking like a brilliant one.
There’s something poetic about a homegrown arm delivering against top-tier offenses like the Mariners and Rangers in back-to-back weeks.
It signals maturity, confidence, and most importantly, sustainability.
Warren isn’t just surviving, he’s evolving.
A valuable arm in a fragile Yankees rotation
With Gerrit Cole sidelined for the year and Clarke Schmidt still finding his rhythm post-injury, Warren stepping up fills a critical void.
He doesn’t need to be an ace. He just needs to give the Yankees consistent quality starts and help bridge the gap between stars and bullpen.
So far, he’s done more than that — he’s given them hope that their internal development pipeline is alive and well.
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