It feels like multiple times during the offseason and into spring training, whether it be in relation to an acquisition or for a player’s season preview, I remark that “they say you can never have enough pitching.” The Yankees, who boast one of the sport’s more productive pitching staffs, are living proof of that exact concept. While they have a top-notch front end of the rotation, the injury bug has not shied away in 2026. With all but Cam Schlittler seeing time on the shelf, including Max Fried’s
most recent stint, the Yankees have benefitted greatly from a relatively strong back end of the rotation.
While it may not be the flashiest aspect of the roster in 2026, the production from Ryan Weathers and Will Warren in 2026 has been vital. Weathers has been a legitimately good pitcher in his first season with the Yankees, and Warren, while up-and-down, has been good at times, and is generally reliable every fifth day. Either way, with the number of injuries this rotation has seen, the level of reliability on the back end has been an unsung and significant value to this club.
We’ll start with Weathers, who has simply been a very good pitcher in his first year in New York. At 134 innings pitched to this point in the season, the lefty has worked nearly 50 more frames than he has in any other year of his career, and is pitching better than ever. With a 3.56 ERA and 3.66 FIP that both represent career-bests, Weathers is setting high-water marks across the board, and has been a stalwart for the Yankees in his 24 starts so far. His efforts have been particularly strong over his last five outings, in which he’s tossed 31.2 innings to the tune of a sparkling 0.85 ERA, while striking out 25 batters compared to nine walks. Throughout the various injury troubles this team has seen, Weathers’ consistent production in pinstripes has been a blessing.
Tossing from the right side, Will Warren has not been quite as good as Weathers, but his availability and still-solid production has been a huge asset. He too has made 24 starts in 2026, and while his numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, he has held his own as the fifth starter. While having that isn’t necessarily the top priority in roster construction, when top line starters start going on the shelf, it becomes indispensable. His 4.43 ERA and encouraging 4.27 FIP is good enough for 1.3 fWAR in his 122 innings of work. When every starter is healthy, Warren is probably the first guy bumped out of this group, but his production as far as fifth starters go is more than acceptable.
The beginning of the 2026 season carried plenty of question marks, with both Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón starting the season on the shelf. Along with Cam Schlittler’s ascension to stardom, the general dependability of Weathers and Warren was a significant safety blanket. With Max Fried having already missed over a month earlier in the season, and now hitting the shelf once again with elbow trouble, the presence of these two back end starters carries even greater weight.
Although Cole and Rodón have since returned to the rotation, we are brought back to the idea that a team can never have too much good pitching. It is a volatile line of work, and someone on the staff will always be banged up. It is situations like that, like the one the Yankees are in right now and have been for much of the season, that the need for a Weathers and a Warren in the rotation becomes a real luxury.
