Will Warren entered yesterday’s start with a lot of pressure; the right-hander has to prove to the Yankees that he was a big-league starter in a short period of time if he wants to keep his job. The odds are sort of stacked against him with Clarke Schmidt aiming to return on April 15th or April 16th, which gives Warren 3-4 starts to make the Yankees keep him over Carlos Carrasco. Given that Warren has MiLB options and Carrasco does not, if the team believes the gap between these two arms is marginal at best, then they’ll send him back to Scranton until they lose another arm.
Facing the Arizona Diamondbacks, his assignment wasn’t easy, and yet he matched Corbin Burnes in an outing that displayed some notable improvements in pitch sequencing that could keep Will Warren from crumbling in big spots.
Yankees Saw Will Warren Battle Through Strong First Outing
The lack of command in-zone has cost Will Warren a ton, as he’ll have fastballs leak over the heart of the plate or hang secondary pitches that end up getting rocked. Last night we saw Warren’s command begin to wane in the final three innings, as after a strong start he ran into trouble and looked like his 2024 self. It started with a walk to Geraldo Perdomo with two outs before Corbin Carroll crushed a hanging changeup for a two-run blast. This was a familiar sight, as Warren had many starts derailed by poor command that snowballed into the remaining innings of his outing.
Going up against Corbin Burnes, the right-hander would not have wiggle room to make any more mistakes, but he would have to battle for these final six outs. Three more walks would pester Warren down the stretch, putting the first two hitters on in the fourth inning and immediately backing himself into a jam. Just 2 of his 15 pitches since allowing the HR to Carroll were fastballs, he was nibbling and didn’t want to give up a blast that would put the Yankees down by even more runs.
Matt Blake calls the mound visit, and Will Warren gets to work by throwing four straight fastballs to Eugenio Suarez to coax a huge double play on the sinker. The right-hander trusted his ability to get that signature groundball, locating the ball on the outer half of the plate to avoid letting Suarez get out in front and barrel up the ball. Gabriel Moreno didn’t present an easy final challenge for that fourth inning, but Warren used his sweeper-sinker combination to get another soft batted ball and end the inning.
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The stage was now set for him to try and finish a fifth inning of work, but he’d get off to an ominous start by walking the leadoff hitter in a 3-2 count. An Alek Thomas groundout would get Warren one step closer to getting out of the frame unscathed, but it also moved the speedy Jake McCarthy to second base, where he’d 100% score on a single. He gets ahead in the count to Geraldo Perdomo, coaxing a flyout on a four-seamer that gets a late swing and a lazy flyout to Jasson Dominguez.
Two down.
Now Corbin Carroll, who took the last pitch he saw from Will Warren 390 feet to right field, would be the final obstacle that the right-hander had to face to turn in a strong start. Out of all of the sequences that Warren had last night, I believe this one to be the best, and it’s perhaps the most brilliant sequence he’s had in the Major Leagues. After falling behind in the count 2-0, Warren doesn’t attack Carroll the same way he attacked Suarez, using the anticipation of a fastball against him to throw a curveball.
It works; Warren gets a chase on a curveball in the dirt which allows him to freeze Carroll on the next pitch with a four-seamer at the bottom of the zone. This fastball comes with a quick pitch though; if you notice, Warren subtly changes the speed at which he delivers the ball to the plate by shortening the leg kick, which completely throws Corbin Carroll off and causes him to take a pitch he would normally crush. He goes back to the curveball and gets the strikeout on a spinning breaker in the dirt, completing five innings and yelling after getting the huge out.
While the command was shaky and his fastball velocity actually dipped pretty significantly during his outing, Will Warren staved off the Diamondbacks to complete five innings of two-run baseball. The movement of his pitches was great, and when he had to make big pitches, he was more than capable of delivering a well-placed breaking ball or a sinker that coaxes a soft groundball.
The lack of sharp command resulted in him not getting many chases, but when he was in the strike zone he often picked up swings and misses. His ability to move the ball in all four directions with good spin rates is impressive, and that’s what will keep the Yankees hooked on Will Warren. If the Yankees can continue to hone in that command and consistency on the mound, the stuff and competitive nature of Warren should result in a middle-of-the-rotation starter.
With Gerrit Cole out for the season and Luis Gil out for at least three months, Will Warren knows that surviving the return of Clarke Schmidt to the rotation would grant him some more time to shine. The following two starts will be pivotal for his roster status in 2025, and if he’s able to stabilize himself in the middle of the Yankees’ rotation, he could help form a strong starting five. Max Fried is an ace, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt have shown the signs of being a 2 and 3 for a contender, and this version of Will Warren could be that final piece that holds this starting five together.