In the final time, Warren stepped onto the major league mound, and his ERA swelled to 10.32 on his sixth outing last season.
On Tuesday, more assertive, offensive and mature — therefore the Yankees' hopes, effective — Warren will take the mound for his season debut against the Diamondbacks.
The injuries to Gerrit Cole, Lewis Gill and Clark Schmidt opened the door for Warren to begin the rotation this season, but the 25-year-old right-hander had to show he would be better off going through last year's struggle. He and the Yankees believe that.
“I don't think there was any doubt in my heart [this spring] Warren said at the end of the camp. “I've had a struggle last year when I said, 'It's okay, this guy can handle this, so I need to leave from it.'” I feel like this spring, it's a '4-seam fastball? Here, let's see what you can do with it.' I think it was the maker of the difference. ”
Warren also reintroduced curveballs into his arsenal to improve his changeup and give him more weapons to left-handed batsmen.
He also wants to move forward faster on the count, rather than just keeping behind, which is another thing that hurts him last season.
“I'm excited to see what Warren can do this year,” Aaron Judge said. “He's a guy who feels like every time I see him he keeps getting a little better and shows a little something new. He continues to gain that confidence.
The Yankees re-signed Dominic Smith to a minor league contract, announced Monday, giving him more left-handed hit depth at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Smith had put together a powerful camp as a non-roster invitee, but the Yankees didn't add him to the major league roster when the former Met triggered an opt-out on March 21st.
The Triple A season is already underway, but the Yankees announced the remaining minor league roster on Monday.
Among the highlights are Spencer Jones' C Rafael Flores and RHP Cam Schlittler to kick off the season with Double-A Somerset. SS George Lombard Jr., RHP Ben Hess, RHP Bryce Cunningham, RHP Carlos Lagrange, RHP Elmer Rodriguez Cruz and LHP Kyle Kerr will start with High A Hudson Valley.
SS Roderick Arias is a top prospect heading into Singles A Tampa and spent everything last season.
The judge on Monday was named American League Player of the Week. This is an honor that I've collected three times in each of my MVP seasons.
In his first three games, the judge was 6-6 (.545), earning four home runs, two doubles and 11 RBIs.
The regular suspects were in the top five of MLB's top-selling jersey rankings released on Monday: Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Judge.
However, there was another Yankee who beat the top 20. Anthony Volpe No. 19.
