Yankees' Ryan Weathers has stormy outing but looks at bright side
Ryan Weathers of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning against the New York Mets in a spring training game at Clover Park on March 8, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/Peter Joneleit
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Having a start to forget early in spring training? It has become almost a rite of passage over the years for first-year Yankees pitchers acquired to various degrees of fanfare in the offseason.
Ryan Weathers made his second exhibition start Sunday afternoon and joined that list, one populated by such luminaries as CC Sabathia, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon.
Weathers, though not in the category of those pitchers when it comes to career resumes, nonetheless was the run-it-back Yankees' highest-profile acquisition from the outside, brought aboard via a trade with the Marlins.
Making his second start of the Grapefruit League season at Clover Park, the lefthander wasn’t sharp in allowing six runs (five earned), seven hits and two walks in two innings-plus in a 10-4 loss to the Mets. He also was betrayed by his defense, as well as a bad-hop grounder that contributed to three second-inning runs.
“You look at the linescore, not great,” Weathers said. “I feel like I truthfully gave up one solid-hit ball. Good thing is I got my ups in [multiple innings], I had some traffic on the bases. I think what I didn’t do well is, it’s been so long being in that kind of game atmosphere where there was traffic on the bases, I have to do a better job of slowing down and not trying to do too much.”
Regardless of Sunday’s rough outing, all signs have been positive regarding Weathers, 26. The Yankees view him as a rotation piece to break camp and, after Rodon and Cole return to the rotation, a bullpen long man thereafter.
The hard-throwing Weathers has shown himself to be a potentially emerging star in recent years when he’s been able to consistently stay on the field. And therein lies the problem.
After mostly undistinguished seasons from 2021-23 with the Padres and then the Marlins, Weathers posted a 3.63 ERA in 16 starts with Miami in 2024 but missed three months of that season with a left index finger strain. He went 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in eight starts for the Marlins last season but spent much of the year on the injured list, first with a left flexor muscle strain and later with a left lat strain.
This year it has been smooth sailing for Weathers, whose fastball routinely has been clocked at 100 mph in live batting practice sessions and in his first exhibition start, Feb. 25 against the Nationals, when he struck out five and allowed one hit in 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
On Sunday, Weathers’ four-seam fastball averaged 98.1 mph and peaked at 99.5 mph.
“Felt great,” he said. “I feel really good. Wish I could have an excuse for why I didn’t do too well today, but I feel great. They just put up some good ABs today, that’s why they’re a good lineup, and it gives me some stuff to work on for this mid-week bullpen, and get ready for the next one.”
Weathers hardly is alone in having a rough spring training outing as a first-year Yankees pitcher.
Sabathia, signed to a $161 million contract before the 2009 season, didn’t make it out of the second inning of his second exhibition start, allowing five runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings against the Tigers.
Cole, signed for $324 million before the 2020 season, allowed six runs and six hits, including four homers, in his third outing, also against the Tigers.
Rodon, signed for $162 million before the 2023 season, allowed five runs, six hits, a walk and a hit batsman in two innings-plus against Atlanta in his Grapefruit League debut.
“Thank goodness,” he said then, “it’s spring training.”
Weathers can relate.
“I felt like he rushed through his delivery, especially when he was ahead,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Like, ‘I’m going to really put you away,’ and kind of let them back into some counts . . . but I thought overall another positive step in the buildup.”
Even if Weathers finds himself in the bullpen when the Yankees' rotation gets healthy — Rodon could be back as soon as early May and Cole as soon as late May — Boone said he sees a sky’s-the-limit potential for him.
“I think his ceiling is really high,” he said. “He could be, I think, a front-line starting pitcher.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
More Yankees headlines
