The Yankees might have their first rotation issue of the 2026 season. LHP Ryan Weathers, who was acquired in a trade with the Marlins this offseason, has struggled mightily over his last three outings, and it might be time for the Yankees to move Weathers to the bullpen.
Weathers’ Rotation Struggles
Weather’s last 17 innings pitched have given up 16 earned runs and seven home runs. His 15 home runs surrendered are tied for the fourth most surrendered in all of baseball, and that is an issue. In his start Friday against the Blue Jays, it was not just the long ball but an overall lack of command with the sinker and other pitches.
“Weathers was ok, some two-strike mistakes,” Manager Aaron Boone said. “The slider Okamoto just kind of rolled in there, down and in, and then the changeup looked like he pulled a little bit, just maybe yanked a little bit, middle down, middle in, down, just not executed how he wants there with two strikes, and obviously that hurt him.
“He’s got hit with the fastball a little bit in some spots tonight with two strikes, you know, mistakes with the secondary, so stuff’s good. He’s throwing well; unfortunately, some of his mistakes have left the ballpark.”
It was obvious that no matter what fastball he used as of late, it was getting hit around the ballpark. Of the fifteen home runs Weathers has given up this season, twelve of them have come off of some variation of the fastball.
Ryan Weathers has now given up 15 HRs on the year. Almost exclusively on fourseamers low and in to RHBs and changeups low in the zone.
(charts don’t exclude the two from today — a fourseamer and changeup)
2 vs LHB 13… pic.twitter.com/BgzlYfX0SB
— Yankees Stats (@ChrisCoop_) June 13, 2026
The Potential for the Bullpen
In some ways, it looks like Weathers is trying to be too fine. The hope when coming into the 2026 season for the Yankees was to have Weathers in the bullpen at some point when the rotation was at full health. With Max Fried on the IL, Weathers has remained in the rotation longer than initially thought, and it seems to have taken a toll on him.
Moving Weathers to the bullpen would in an ideal world be a win-win situation. For starters, the Yankees’ bullpen would get a big boost that is needed with velocity from a power lefty. It would also give Weathers the ability to better mix his pitches; he would only likely need to face a batter once in a given outing.
The idea would be for Weathers to be like a 2023 Michael King, where he could come into the game and get six high-leverage outs before getting to the rest of the high-leverage arms in the bullpen. In other words, shorten the game. Weathers has experience working out of the bullpen, so the transition would not be much of an issue.
The issue right now with this idea is the number of home runs Weathers is giving up. He can’t be surrendering a ton of home runs out of the bullpen with a lead for obvious reasons. Still, the hope remains that he can better mix his pitches and become an effective tool for the Yankees in their bullpen.
Main Image Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
