Will Warren

Will Warren didn't pitch in high school until the 10th grade. He rode the bench as a freshman, worked his way into the lineup as a sophomore, and somehow ended up at Southeastern Louisiana throwing hard enough to get drafted by the New York Yankees. In 2025, injuries to Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil put him in the Opening Day rotation -- and he stayed there all season.

Path to the Bronx

Warren played at Southeastern Louisiana University, where the Yankees selected him in the eighth round of the 2021 draft. He moved through the system steadily -- Low-A Tampa, High-A Hudson Valley, Double-A Somerset -- posting solid numbers at each stop. His first taste of the majors came in 2024 -- he was called up on July 30 when Cole was scratched due to fatigue, struck out Bryce Harper for his first big league K, and then got rocked in four of his five starts for a 10.32 ERA across 22.2 innings.

It was ugly. But the Yankees saw enough in the strikeout numbers (29 K in those 22.2 innings) to believe the stuff was real, even if the results weren't there yet.

Yankees Career

Warren made the 2025 Opening Day roster out of necessity and then refused to give the spot back. He made 33 starts -- the most of any Yankee -- and threw 162.1 innings with a 4.44 ERA and 171 strikeouts. He led all MLB rookies in punchouts and finished eighth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

The numbers came in waves. He posted a 2.86 ERA in June across five starts, including an 11-strikeout gem against the Angels on June 17. But his home/road splits told two different stories -- a 3.50 ERA in 16 starts at Yankee Stadium, a 5.52 ERA in 17 starts on the road. Consistency was the missing piece, and that's normal for a 24-year-old pitching a full big league season for the first time.

Key Moments

The Role

Warren isn't a finished product, but he showed in 2025 that he can handle a full starter's workload. The 171 strikeouts prove his stuff plays at the highest level. The 4.44 ERA and the road splits show there's room to grow. He's the kind of young arm who could take a big step forward in year two -- or he could settle in as a back-end starter who gives you innings. Either way, the Yankees need him.

The home/road split is worth paying attention to, though. That 3.50 ERA at Yankee Stadium versus 5.52 on the road suggests Warren feeds off the environment -- the short porch, the crowd, the familiarity of his own mound. Road struggles are common for young pitchers still learning to block out distractions and adjust to different bullpen mounds, different backdrops, different strike zones from umpire to umpire. The fact that he posted a 2.86 ERA across an entire month (June) shows the ceiling is real. He can dominate for stretches. The trick is stringing those stretches together over a full 162-game grind, and that's the kind of thing that usually clicks in year two or three -- once a pitcher has seen every lineup in the league and knows what works against whom.

With Cole and Gil expected back healthy in 2026, Warren might slide to the four or five spot in the rotation. That's fine. A team that wants to play in October needs five guys who can take the ball, and Warren proved he's one of them.