This was one of those lazy, mid-March mornings in Spring Training, a no-man’s land in the schedule where Opening Day still felt like a lifetime away. The Yankees were preparing for another leisurely Grapefruit League game, but that didn’t mean the club’s hierarchy wasn’t dealing with a pressing issue -- the starting rotation.
General manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone needed a work-around for the injuries to Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón. It would be months before the two veterans would be ready, a handicap that would have been devastating to most other clubs. After all, Cole was the American League Cy Young Award recipient in 2023. Rodón was an 18-game winner who tied for the American League lead with 33 starts in 2025.
And now the Yankees had to go to Plan B.
Would it be a trade? Two trades? Hunting down an unsigned free agent?
The answer was none of the above. While veteran left-hander Max Fried -- who led the Majors with 19 wins last season -- assumed his familiar perch atop the rotation, the Yankees’ depth made it possible to sidestep the crisis without a second thought. One month into the season, the starting staff was the best in the Major Leagues, even with Cole and Rodón still working through their rehab assignments. Thanks to Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers, it was as if the problem never existed.
“I’m not surprised at all at the way our young pitchers have come through,” Boone said. “Not if you think about the way Cam threw last year, especially at the end, and what he carried into Spring Training. And not the way Will has continued to improve. And Ryan, we love what we’ve seen from the get-go.”
All three have had different paths to success, but the results have been largely the same. Schlittler, Warren and Weathers lined up behind Fried to help the Yankees post the American League’s best record as of early May. The idea that Cole and Rodón would be activated within weeks was enough to set social media aflame.
Could this be the combination of youth and experience that sends the Bombers back to the World Series? Cashman, for one, wouldn’t bite on a prediction, simply because “it’s just too early for that.”
Boone would never make such a bold forecast either, but the skipper wasn’t shy about praising the support staff that has nurtured the Yankees’ young arms.
“It shows you how deep this organization is,” the Yanks’ manager said. “The player development [department] has done a really good job identifying guys and bringing them along. It’s exciting to see.”
None of this was a fluke. The Yankees were watching closely in 2025 when Warren was beginning to show hints of dominance. Scouts saw enough talent to predict the 26-year-old right-hander wouldn’t fizzle out after one time around the league. And the same was true of Schlittler and Weathers.
Each one had potential to deliver dividends. Their pitching ability was never in doubt. The greater task was bolstering the confidence of three young hurlers being asked to anchor the rotation. The most pressing reminder: be yourselves.
“That’s what we’ve stressed,” said pitching coach Matt Blake. “I tell them all the time, ‘Don’t feel like you have to be Gerrit Cole or Carlos Rodón, just be the best version of yourself.’ It’s the same thing we said to Michael King and Clarke Schmidt in the past. The path isn’t always linear in the big leagues. It’s possible to get off to a rocky start and still get on a roll. And that’s what we’re seeing this year.”
Little has been rocky about the start to Schlittler’s career. He joined the rotation in July 2025, quickly establishing himself as the staff’s hardest thrower. He stands 6-foot-6 with a long stride and over-the-top delivery. It was one thing for hitters to deal with Schlittler’s 97 mph fastball, but his mechanics created the illusion of a pitch coming at them from out of the sky, straight downhill -- a hitter’s nightmare.
Four-seamer after four-seamer, start after start, week after week, Schlittler was a revelation to the Yankees -- and a problem for the American League. He reminded the Yankees of Luis Gil in 2024 who, on his way to winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award, was able to throw his fastball for seven innings at a time and get away with it. He was that good.
Schlittler had the same profile -- young and unstoppable. He was still looking to improve his cutter, and the command of his slider didn’t yet have Cole’s razor-sharp accuracy. But there was no doubt Schlittler was a keeper. While Cole was sitting out the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, Schlittler emerged as the No. 3 starter behind Fried and Rodón. He personally sent the Red Sox home for the winter with a command performance in the 2025 American League Wild Card Series.
With the best-of-three shootout tied at one game apiece, the season was on the line for both the Sox and the Yankees. Schlittler rose to the occasion, shutting out Boston for eight innings while striking out 12. He walked off the mound to a standing ovation after the top of the eighth. The kid from Walpole, Massachusetts, in the heart of Red Sox Nation, had taken command of the Yankees Universe.
Schlittler turned 25 in February, but he projects a veteran’s maturity and confidence on the mound and off. He was unfazed by Sox fans who took to social media last October, accusing him of being a traitor. Never mind that Schlittler’s career path was dictated by the Yankees. He was their seventh-round Draft pick in 2022, whether he liked it or not.
No matter. Schlittler was renounced in New England, which only made it easier for him to embrace his future in the Bronx.
“I love New York. I love being a Yankee,” Schlittler said. “There’s a lot that comes with that, the good and the bad. Fans are aggressive. They’re going to get on you if you’re doing poorly. But that’s some of the criticism you need to really push yourself.
“So, there’s a lot of motivation that comes with that. But if you’re doing well, if you’re helping them win games, they’re going to treat you like a god. That’s just kind of how it goes.”
The relationship with the ticket buyers and YES viewers has continued to flourish in 2026, and for good reason. Schlittler has emerged as one of the American League’s premier starters. Unlike so many phenoms who enjoy initial success before quickly coming back down to earth, Schlittler has stayed one step ahead of opponents.
As hitters have become more familiar with his arsenal -- and adjusted accordingly -- the Yankees have helped him evolve just as quickly.
“We saw right away there was real substance as to why Cam was having success,” Blake said. “He had the four-seamer and that velocity, a sweeper and a slower cutter. There wasn’t really a good curveball in the mix yet. There wasn’t a sinker yet. And he wasn’t throwing the harder version of the cutter.
“Those are the wrinkles he’s been adding. Once he started tinkering with that as well as listening to the feedback he’s been getting, all Cam has done is get better and better.”
The irony is that Schlittler wasn’t a particularly hard thrower when the Yankees drafted him out of Northeastern in 2022. There are social media videos floating around of him with the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades in 2023 barely touching 90 mph.
Schlittler laughed at the memory.
“Obviously, my mechanics were pretty bad,” he said. “Preston [Claiborne] was my High-A coach, and he helped me work on things that winter. It was a lot of hard work, but we eventually started putting the pieces together. I went from 90-91 to 93, then from 93 to 95, and then slowly from 95 to where I am now.”
The results have been breathtaking, not to mention history-making. Schlittler became the first Major League pitcher in more than a century to record 50-plus strikeouts, issue fewer than 10 walks and allow only one home run while posting a sub-1.50 ERA through his first nine starts of a season. The last hurler to do so was Walter Johnson in 1913.
Schlittler’s evolution wouldn’t be as noticeable if the Yankees themselves hadn’t played so well in April and early May. And for that, they owe thanks not just to Schlittler, but to Warren and Weathers as well.
Of the two, Warren is more familiar to Yankees fans, if only because the 2021 eighth-round Draft pick has been in the organization for longer. But his development has been just as rapid and dramatic. Warren’s arsenal is more diversified -- and more challenging to hitters -- than it was when he made his big league debut in 2024. He was a classic sinker-sweeper specialist in the Minor Leagues until the addition of a four-seam fastball that has sent a statement to opponents.
“It’s something Will has really leaned into,” Blake said, noting Warren’s impact early in the season, when he didn’t allow more than two earned runs in any of his first seven starts. With a 2.39 ERA, Warren was one of the league’s standouts, making a strong case for a permanent spot in the rotation.
Warren attributes his success not just to the movement of his pitches but also to an impenetrable belief in himself.
“I feel like I’m a really good pitcher who’s getting better every time I go out there,” Warren said. “That’s the only way you’re going to have success in the Major Leagues. You have to be able to look at the guy standing at the plate and say to yourself, ‘I’m better than him. I can get him out.’
“That’s why I believe I’m going to win every game that I pitch. The other thing is being able to pick up information from the veterans like Max and Carlos and Gerrit. I mean, pitching in Triple-A is way different than pitching here. The experience and the information have gotten me to where I am.”
Warren was careful not to mention the numbers-crunch that could complicate the rotation by midsummer. The eventual return of Fried -- who is currently on the injured list with a bone bruise in his left elbow -- would potentially force would potentially force either Warren or Weathers to the bullpen. It’s the kind of problem managers love to have. Warren flatly said, “We’re going to have the best rotation in the Majors when everyone is healthy.”
But if there was a direct competition between Warren and Weathers, neither one was focusing on it. To the contrary, each was busy creating signature moments in an exciting start to the ’26 season. For Warren, it was a seven-inning, two-run, no walks, 11-strikeout tour de force against the Royals on April 18.
Not only was it Warren’s finest performance as a Yankee, but it placed him solidly in Boone’s circle of trust.
“What has stood out to me is how much swing-and-miss Will is getting with his fastball,” Boone said that day. “He’s got a unique delivery and [arm] slot that allows that to play. He’s a better pitcher now than he was at the end of last year, and he keeps growing.”
Weathers’ coming-out party was just as dramatic. Acquired from the Marlins for four Minor Leaguers in January, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his eighth start as a Yankee, against the Orioles on May 11 in Baltimore. Even though the Yanks eventually lost that game, it was a chance for Weathers to showcase how effective his fastball and changeup combination can truly be.
“I felt like I was competing in the zone really well,” the left-hander said of the 15 swings and misses he generated. That’s precisely why the Yankees had been eyeing Weathers over the last two seasons. The potential for greatness was there, notably with near-triple-digit velocity. The only concern was his health. He made just eight starts in 2025, totaling 38 1/3 innings.
“That’s the one thing that makes you light a candle and hope, whether guys are going to be healthy and stay healthy,” said Cashman. “And not just Ryan, but all your guys. We certainly saw a lot of potential there. The key is keeping Ryan on the field, which has been the case so far this year.”
Weathers didn’t have to be asked twice about the crossover from Miami to the Bronx. He couldn’t have been happier. Weathers’ father, David, played for the Yankees in 1996 and ’97 during a 19-year career in the Majors. Ryan knew he had the talent to flourish in New York. But with a unique big-city history in his genes, the younger Weathers also knew it would take more than that.
“The landscape is a little different than when my dad pitched here, so you really have to be able to block out the noise, like on social media,” Weathers said. “You really have to be confident in yourself, confident in the talent that got you here. Trust your stuff, trust your game plan. That’s a big part of it in New York.”
That’s one reason Weathers never worried about the implications of Cole and Rodón returning to the rotation. If the Yankees wanted to shift Weathers to the bullpen, not only would he be agreeable, but his game plan is set.
“You want me to go out there and blow it out? Touch 100 [mph]? Then I’ll touch 100,” Weathers said. “Anything to help the Yankees win. That’s what makes this organization so much different from other organizations.
“The focus is on winning the World Series. That’s all everyone talks about here. How can you not be motivated by that?”
Bob Klapisch is a contributing writer for Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the June 2026 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.