Andres Chavez
The radar gun doesn’t lie. Not in February. Not in July. Not ever.
On a warm night at George Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees didn’t just beat the Washington Nationals 7-0. They flexed. They bullied. They looked like a club that understands the American League is wide open and decided to start acting like it from day one of the Grapefruit League.
Yes, it’s spring training. Yes, half the crowd was juggling beer cups and sunscreen. I don’t care. When a pitcher walks out there averaging 98.5 mph with command and conviction, that matters in any month of the calendar.
Ryan Weathers owned the night.
A Fastball With Teeth
Weathers came over from the Marlins with a whiff of intrigue but not exactly a parade. Former top prospect. Flashes. Inconsistency. Injuries. The usual story. But what he showed in 3.2 innings on Wednesday wasn’t teasing potential. It was force.
One hit. No walks. Five strikeouts. And here’s the part that makes scouts lean forward in those flimsy spring chairs: 12 whiffs on 23 swings. That’s not soft contact luck. That’s dominance.
His fastball averaged 98.5 mph. Read that again. We’re not talking about a max-effort, one-inning reliever airing it out. This was a starter pacing himself through nearly four innings, and the pitch had life. Two whiffs on the four-seamer, three each on the sweeper, slider, and changeup, even the sinker getting in on the fun. All five pitches generated at least one miss.
That’s a real arsenal. Not a theoretical one. A usable one.
The Yankees have quietly built a reputation for squeezing more out of arms than anyone expected. Under Matt Blake, pitchers don’t just throw harder; they throw smarter. Shapes change. Tunneling improves. Confidence spikes. It’s not magic, but it’s close enough that opposing scouts have started rolling their eyes about it.
Weathers looked like the next test case.
Not Just a One-Man Show
When you win 7-0, you usually get a handful of heroes. Max Schuemann racked up three hits. George Lombard Jr. drove in two runs like a kid trying to kick down the clubhouse door. Amed Rosario launched one over the fence and didn’t apologize for it.
The lineup had energy. Traffic on the bases. Competitive at-bats. It’s February, sure, but the approach didn’t scream “just getting loose.” It looked intentional.
And then the bullpen came in and quietly slammed the door.
David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, and Tim Hill combined for three perfect innings with four strikeouts. Efficient. Clean. No drama. If the Yankees are going to chase a title, they’ll need that bridge from starter to ninth to feel automatic. On Wednesday, it did.
Don’t Roll Your Eyes — This Matters
There’s always that guy at the bar who says, “Relax, it’s spring training.” He’s not wrong. But he’s not right either.
Velocity gains in February tend to stick. Pitch mix changes don’t just vanish when the calendar flips. If Weathers is sitting upper-90s with a five-pitch mix that misses bats at that rate, the ceiling shifts. Adding another legitimate bat-misser into the rotation mix changes the math.
It lengthens the staff. It protects the bullpen. It gives Aaron Boone options instead of headaches.
And let’s be honest, the American League isn’t some unbeatable gauntlet right now. There’s room. There’s opportunity. A breakout arm can swing a postseason series, and the Yankees know it because they’ve lived it.
Weathers isn’t an ace today. He hasn’t earned that label. But on Wednesday night, under the Florida lights, he pitched like a man tired of being called “former prospect” and ready to be called something else.
The Yankees are 4-2 this spring. That record means nothing.
The radar gun, though? That means everything.
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