{"id":115640,"date":"2026-03-14T14:32:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=115640"},"modified":"2026-03-14T14:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:32:46","slug":"warren-having-massive-spring-for-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/14\/warren-having-massive-spring-for-yankees\/","title":{"rendered":"The Yankees\u2019 Will Warren Is Thriving This Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/colege01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gerrit Cole<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodonca01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Rod\u00f3n<\/a> out to begin the year, the New York Yankees still boast <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/04\/yankees-key-performances-spring\/\" target=\"_self\">one of the American League&#8217;s best rotations<\/a>. This is in part because of all the young talent New York has in terms of pitching; this year, 22-year-old Carlos Lagrange is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/08\/yankees-lagrange-impressing-in-spring-training\/\" target=\"_self\">already looking the part of a no. 2 overall prospect<\/a>, and last year&#8217;s rookies in <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/warrewi01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Will Warren<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schlica01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Schlittler<\/a> are both in positions to take massive steps forward this season. In particular, Warren&#8217;s recent performances this spring have been outstanding, and he looks all but ready to take the next step forward in his Yankee career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aligncenter\"><p class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBUBSCR5oN\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3072px; aspect-ratio: 3072\/2049;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n<h2>Total Dominance<\/h2>\n<p>Granted, the World Baseball Classic has rightfully stolen all of the baseball world&#8217;s attention. Perhaps this is the reason why Warren&#8217;s incredible spring has gone mostly unnoticed, even by Yankee fans. Over the 26-year-old&#8217;s four starts this Spring Training, he currently has a 1.56 ERA, 12 strikeouts, and just two walks over 16 1\/3 innings. Considering that this is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/09\/yankees-spring-training-storylines-2026\/\" target=\"_self\">just his second full season coming up<\/a>, the Yankees should be cautiously excited for their young hurler.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Will Warren, K&#8217;ing the Side. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3bQ1eStQm6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/3bQ1eStQm6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PitchingNinja\/status\/2028175164123279374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Even without a dominant spring performance, Warren is almost guaranteed a spot in New York&#8217;s rotation, at least to begin the season. With Rodon and Cole out for a few months each and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schmicl01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clarke Schmidt<\/a> not expected to return until around July, Warren has a shot to both prove himself as a starter with legitimate Major League talent, as well as earn himself a permanent position in the starting rotation.<\/p>\n<h2>Strikeout Stuff<\/h2>\n<p>Like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/15\/yankees-starting-rotation-will-dominate-2026\/\" target=\"_self\">fellow sophomore Schlittler<\/a>, Warren dominates hitters mostly through the strikeout. However, unlike Schlittler, who dominates with a triple-digit heater and pinpoint command, Warren accomplishes this with multiple off-speed pitches and a vast arsenal consisting of a sinker, four-seamer, sweeper, changeup, and curveball. This combination of pitches helped him rack up 171 strikeouts over 162 1\/3 innings in 2025.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115673\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115673\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Yankees starting pitcher Will Warren is gearing up to throw a pitch against the Detroit Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium on March 12, 2026. \" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-large wp-image-115673\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/03\/USATSI_28473496-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-115673\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mar 12, 2026; Lakeland, Florida, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Will Warren (98) pitches during the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Still, walks are a problem for Warren. It&#8217;s not so much that Warren struggles with locating his pitches, but more of a mental issue. Last season, most of Warren&#8217;s bad starts began with total bombardment; walk, hit, walk, hit, hit, walk, etc. Warren clearly knows this, since it looks like he&#8217;s made it an objective to limit walks and strand baserunners as much as possible this spring.<\/p>\n<h2>Future Franchise Pitcher?<\/h2>\n<p>It is impossible to tell whether or not a pitcher will succeed in Major League Baseball for years to come; pitchers tend to experience more frequent and aggressive injuries than position players, so reaching one&#8217;s ceiling from the mound is not so easy. It also takes a lot of frequent, in-game adjustments that are crucial to maintaining success. For Warren, it looks like he has all the tools necessary to thrive as a starting pitcher; the only question is whether or not those tools will be able to improve\/translate from Spring Training into the games that truly matter.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rod\u00f3n out to begin the year, the New York Yankees still boast one of the American League&#8217;s best rotations. This is in part because of all the young talent New York has in terms of pitching; this year, 22-year-old Carlos Lagrange is already looking the part of a no. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5148,"featured_media":101161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,5,35],"tags":[29128,197,1418,611,6491],"class_list":["post-115640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-yankees","category-news","tag-cam-schlittler","tag-carlos-rodon","tag-clarke-schmidt","tag-gerrit-cole","tag-will-warren"],"modified_by":"Augustus Oswald, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115640"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115675,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115640\/revisions\/115675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}