Good News on Will Warren
- Sal Maiorana
- Mar 12
- 2 min read
By Sal Maiorana
March 2026
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Sal Maiorana shares his thoughts on the Yankees. Here is an edited version of Sal's latest article.
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A key guy for the Yankees in 2026 will be Will Warren - and he has been very good across three spring starts. He has thrown 10.1 innings and has a 0.87 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP while averaging a strikeout per inning.
Last Saturday against the Nationals, Warren went four innings and gave up an unearned run thanks to a George Lombard error on two hits and two walks, and 37 of his 50 pitches went for strikes.
“I think he’s been steady,” Boone said. “He’s taken his share of lumps along the way. But I feel he’s learned a ton, he’s grown a ton, learned how to slow the game down while also still just physically developing his craft. He’s had a really good camp.”
Warren flew under the radar last season which is not surprising when you have Carlos Rodon and Max Fried in the rotation, and then you call up dynamic Cam Schlittler late in the season.
But Warren was a bit of an unsung hero as he gave the Yankees an excellent 2025 season.
He took the ball every fifth day, 33 starts in all which tied Rodon for the most in MLB, and pitched to a respectable 4.44 ERA which was better than it looked. That’s because he had three stinkers where he gave up a combined 21 earned runs in starts against the Blue Jays, Dodgers and Red Sox. He also had 23 starts where he allowed three or less earned runs, and after the way he struggled when he first got called up in 2024 and left me and probably you wondering if he’d ever be any use to the Yankees, he was one of the most surprising members of the 2025 team.
When the team heads to San Francisco to open the season on March 25, Warren will be a fixture in the rotation, presumably along with Ryan Weathers, Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Luis Gil, and not only will be a fixture, he’s going to be someone Boone will be counting heavily on to be as steady as he was last year.
Schlittler was great when he came up last year, but now we’ll see where he goes in what will officially be his rookie season. Teams have now seen him and he’ll need to make adjustments to stay ahead of the hitters. Gil is a wildcard, literally, because his command issues are still a problem. And Weathers remains an unknown, mostly because while his stuff is tremendous, he’s been a perpetual injured list player.
Warren went 6 IP this afternoon, 2 R, 2 H, 2 K, 0 BB. I'll happily take that from my No. 4 or 5 starter.
the Yankee pitching in 2025 was inadequate. it began badly and improved thoughout the season to the point that it was able to end up as mediocre.
the staff ERA was but 7th best in the AL, 3.91 runs/gm
the offense averaged 5.2 and that was league-best
but was not always sufficient
this season we should not expect the offense to be much better. we might have a reasonable hope that it may again be best, but it's also reasonable to think that other teams might be able to score as well and as often
might be good to expect better all-around pitching and improved run prevention from the 2026 Yankee team in comparison to last year's model.
rather than…
With Rodon & Cole signed through 2028, Fried only in 2026 on Year 2 of a seven year deal, and Shlittler right now another 5 years of control, and with all the high end pitching prospects, headlined by Carlos Lagrange & Elmer Rodriguez, both at the top of the SWB (AAA) rotation to open the 2026 season, I really can see Warren being traded at the deadline. He really is a solid SP3, with years of control. Please name me a rotation, outside of the high paid rotation of the Dodgers, Warren is not that team's SP4, at worst.