What will the Yankees Do with Ryan Weathers?

Frozen Late-January Thoughts

By: Cary Greene

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Our esteemed Andy Singer recently wrote a piece on the promising young left-handed fireballer that the Yankees recently traded for - none other than Ryan Weathers. I loved Andy’s article and how it framed Weathers’ background before getting into how he’s improved as he’s gone along and then delving into his pitch mix. It just so happens that I had been working on a piece that winds up dovetailing nicely with Andy’s offering, so without haste I ramped up production this past Saturday and I’ve got a few interesting things to add to what Andy wrote, so without further ado, let’s examine what the Yankees will likely do with their shiny new starter.

My initial reaction to the trade was that I loved it! I was elated to see Cashman target a young, controllable, hard-throwing Lefty starter with a high octane four-seamer! Weathers is more than just a one trick pony though, he does have three other pitches, two of which are excellent pitches - his change-up and sweeper! Both of his secondary offerings are pitches that opposing batters have genuine difficulty with, but the belly the beast reveals that Weathers has been vulnerable not only to the long ball to date in his very young career, but it also shows that MLB batters are barreling up his offerings at well above League average rates and they’re also displaying elevated hard-hit rates.

A question you might be thinking at this point of my assessment is, why trade for a pitcher whose pitches get barreled up so easily and hit so hard? It appears the main reason the Yankees traded for Weathers is that they really like his potential - not only does he have effective secondary pitches, but his spin rates are very high.

After the trade, something Weathers said caught my eye: “We’re going to get more into it in the coming days, but the Yankees will make some usage adjustments, especially against left-handed batters.” He went on to say, “I don’t feel like I’m utilizing my two-seamer as much, where it could open up the zone a little bit for my four-seamer and my sweeper.” It’s been reported that Yankees Pitching Coach Matt Blake has already spoken with Weathers about increasing the usage of his sinker - which Weathers only featured 3.9% of the time in 2025, in order to complement his 97 mph four-seamer. In case you didn’t know, a sinker is the same thing as a two seam fastball, I mention this because it’s going to come up later in the article.

In Andy’s article, he went into detail about how, thus far in Weathers young career, he’s been able to leverage his sweeper against right-handed batters. The sweeper, which is kind of like an off-speed slider, has become his main put-out pitch. Weathers has been using his fastball and change-up more and more in recent times. The problem is though, opposing batters are barrelling up his pitch mix at a well above average clip and as Andy mentioned, this is due to his high usage of his very hittable fastball, which opposing batters are likely sitting on.

Since the Yankees really like Weathers high spin rates, I could see Matt Blake literally salivating while working with Weathers to get more lift or rise on his four-seamer and I think this will actually be Blake's A-Number-One priority once he and Weathers get down to business in the Yankees Gas Station down in Tampa. High spin rates and elevated fastballs go together like a nice Tomahawk Ribeye steak served blackened but rare and a glass of Peso Robles County Cabernet Sauvignon! No doubt Matt Blake will be focusing on helping Weathers use his ability to spin the ball to help him get some lift on his four-seamer and thus, elevate the pitch more towards the top of the zone.

Other pitches that greatly benefit from high spin rates are curves and sliders. Thus far in his career, Weathers' out-pitch and probably his best pitch, as Andy alluded to in the article, is a very unusual and good sweeper. The problem with the sweeper that Weathers throws though is that there's way too much of a void between its 84 mph velo and his 4-seamer, which sits 97 mph. He needs something in the middle, considering his change-up is 87 mph. MLB batters can stay back on overly slow pitches while hunting for flat fastballs and this is what's happened to Weathers thus far in his short career. The League has adjusted to his pitch mix very quickly and he's been slow to counter the adjustments.

What Blake probably realizes is that Weathers needs an offering in the middle - a pitch that velocity wise, sits between his four-seamer and his off-speed pitches. Enter Carlos Rodon as exhibit A of what a few visits to the Yankees Gas Station will likely do with Weathers. Thus far, Weathers has struggled to throw his slider for strikes, he’s been quite wild with it in fact. This may have caused him to combine the pitch with the attributes of a curve ball, which became his sweeper. Perhaps he’s missing an opportunity here though. Pitchers with big velocity can use a true slider to devastating effect.

Perhaps Blake will work with Weathers on locating his 90 mph slider more effectively. It makes all the sense in the world for Blake to take a stab at accomplishing this. I’m not convinced that having Weathers throw his 95 mph two-seamer (sinker) more to right-handed batters is the answer, because the pitch is even more hittable than his four-seamer. Weathers needs a pitch that from a velocity standpoint, sits between his 97 mph four-seamer and his very good secondary offerings - his 87 mph change-up and his 84 mph sweeper (curve-slider hybrid).

If Weathers could work on his existing slider and begin to throw a whole lot more with conviction, the slider could become a very high usage pitch for him. Currently, Weathers throws his slider very sparingly. Tinkering with using the two-seamer more to right-handed hitters could wind up backfiring for Weathers - as it’s clearly his worst pitch. A plan I’d rather see the Yankees go with is to start with helping Weathers get more lift on his four-seamer. Having Gerrit Cole around during Spring Training could help with this. Next, a simple usage tweak might help Weathers a lot. He already throws his change-up for strikes, but instead of using it as a secondary out-pitch, he should throw it in all counts and use it more as a set up pitch.

Then, if Blake can help Weathers perfect his slider and increase its usage to Rodon-like levels of 25 to 30% of the time, Weathers would have a pitch that would keep MLB hitters more honest as it would make them much more off-balance. Elevating his four-seamer while dropping his change-up for strikes in any count would allow Weathers to use a slider as his main put-out pitch and his Sweeper as a secondary put-out pitch. With a pitcher like Weathers who can spin the ball so well, a plan like I’m talking about wouldn’t be akin to reinventing the wheel. It’s what teams do with big velocity starters who can spin the ball.

Working to Weather’s advantage is that he’s already fully mastered his off-speed pitches. All that remains to accomplish is to elevate his four-seamer and pair it with a slider. We shall see what happens, it should be interesting to see what Blake does with Weathers. I can’t wait to see him pitch this Spring. Early on, we might see what Weathers is working on and if it’s going with his two-seamer more, I have a feeling it will force Weathers to go back to the drawing board as he attempts to work on his slider once the season starts. I’m hoping for that not to happen, but I think it inevitably will from the sound of things thus far.