Will Warren was impressive again for the Yankees in his latest spring training outing, this time handling the Phillies to bring his spring statline to an impressive 1.13 ERA with 11 strikeouts over eight innings of work.
One of the Yankees top prospects, the 25-year-old has been turning heads in Tampa, and Chris McMonigle is among the many who have taken notice. In fact, he would like to see the righty in the rotation when the season begins later this month.
“If you look at him in spring…his fastball is up, the movement on all his pitches are up,” C-Mac said. “The stuff is jumping off the page…his changeup is a completely different pitch than it was last year.”
The other obvious candidate for the fifth starter is Marcus Stroman, who is under contract for this season and has said that he will not pitch out of the bullpen. C-Mac would go with Warren over Stroman at this point, as he believes there is much higher upside, and if Warren surprisingly flops, he has minor league options that would make it an easy fix. As things stand now, Warren would be the clear answer for C-Man for Luis Gil’s replacement.
“I don’t want to see Marcus Stroman unless I have to…I know he’ll be mad, but too bad,” C-Mac said.
“Even if I don’t trade Stroman, you’re looking to replace Luis Gil…This rotation is good enough, and you can take a risk…why not throw [Warren] in the mix, and what if he gives you what Michael King gave you, or what Luis Gil was gonna give you?”