Yankees' Will Warren hopes to contribute in a relief role in postseason
Yankees pitcher Will Warren delivers against the Baltimore Orioles in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
He has spent the entire season as part of a Yankees starting rotation that led the American League with a 3.30 ERA, but righthander Will Warren will not be getting a starting assignment in the postseason. Those project to go to Cam Schlittler, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon.
That doesn’t mean Warren won't be an important part of what the Yankees accomplish in the days to come. They intend to use him as a relief pitcher. As part of getting him acclimated to that role, he came out of the bullpen with one on and one out in the third inning of the Yankees' 6-3 win over the Orioles in Game 2 of Friday’s doubleheader. He got 11 outs, didn’t issue a walk and had seven strikeouts.
““He can be big for us moving forward in the postseason, and in different roles,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Good to get him in that environment. Come in in the middle of an inning.”
“It’s obviously something new, so I want to get used to it,” said Warren, who also pitched out of the bullpen once in the first week of September and another time earlier in the season, all without giving up a run in 6 2/3 innings.
The role is substantially different from what he’s been doing. Instead of being scheduled, he could get called on at any time. Instead of taking on a hitter whom he might be facing once or twice more, there is no reason to hold back on showing any of his pitches. The adrenaline clearly is different. His four-seam fastball on Friday was almost a mile-per-hour faster than it typically is.
He used all of his pitches during the outing but noted that in relief, “you’re typically going to rely on your strengths.”
The back end of the Yankees' bullpen this season — with Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn setting up closer David Bednar — has been outstanding but somewhat overworked. Headrick has a 2.18 ERA, but it was 3.72 in September. Warren potentially could be an alternative if Headrick is inconsistent.
“There’s stories of guys going down there, doing heroic things out of the blue,” Boone said. “The fact that he’s done it now a couple of times this season, hopefully that little bit of familiarity will benefit him and us moving forward.”
One issue Warren seems to be working through is when to start the process of stretching out and warming up.
“In the past when I was down there, I just tried to figure out when I should start moving around,” he said Friday. “I guess I didn't really have a [specific] role today. I knew I was pitching. I didn't know exactly when . . . I think that was good practice for like, ‘hey, this one I'm going to start my plyos [weighted balls] and how fast can I get hot?' I think it went pretty smoothly.”
Boone indicated Warren is capable of pitching multiple innings if needed, which would be an asset. He won’t pitch Sunday and finished the regular season with an 11-6 record and a 3.92 ERA with 158 strikeouts in 156 innings in 32 appearances (29 starts).
Asked what kind of a weapon he could be in the Yankees’ postseason, Warren replied, “I feel like as a starter, you’re supposed to get both sides of the plate out, so I think that would be pretty big for us. You see Blackburn do it. You see Headrick do it. So whenever my name’s called, I’ll be ready to go.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
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