We’re a week into spring training games getting underway now, and the Yankees have some interesting highlights develop already. Perhaps the most intriguing name on everyone’s tongue after his first appearance has been Ryan Weathers, the left-handed arm that proved to be one of the few new faces the Yankees brought on board over the course of the offseason.
Weathers landed in New York via a trade with the Marlins for a package of four minor leaguers with the main purpose of boosting the early season rotation while several key arms finish up recovery from surgery and go through rehab stints. He likely is set to slide into the bullpen afterwards, but he can make his case to be something more if he can consistently showcase his new form. Weathers touched 100 mph on his fastball in a 3.2 inning start against the Nationals, allowing just a single hit and striking out five while getting over a 50 percent whiff rate on the day. Weathers’ stuff impressed as soon as camp opened, with his versatile repertoire catching people’s eyes, but to be in this form after his first start of spring eyebrows across the league are getting raised.
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The Yankees are no strangers to spring successes, and plenty have translated while others fizzled out immediately. Just last year the team enjoyed a renaissance spring from Carlos Carrasco, gave him the fifth starter job as a fill-in with Gerrit Cole out for the year, and watched as he turned into a pumpkin as soon as April rolled around. Weathers is a lot younger than Carrasco, so the stuff disappearing is less of a concern, but he does carry a lengthy injury history around already and last year was no exception — he made just eight starts and pitched 38.1 innings overall. So do the Yankees have something to get excited about in Weathers, or should calmer minds prevail before shooting off fireworks about snagging him out of Miami? It’s completely fair to want more than just a single spring start before declaring him a budding ace for the rotation, but do you think he could prove to be a significant contributor throughout 2026?
Today on the site, John takes us through the time-honored tradition of taking a look at where all of the recent ex-Yankees landed for 2026. Then, Estevão recalls the career of Johnny Blanchard and his contribution to the early 60s Yankees on his birthday, Michael previews Ben Rice’s upcoming season after dominating the metrics but getting unlucky in the process, and Nick gives us our next team preview with the Twins on the docket. Finally, after today’s spring training game Andrés writes about the benefits to the race for the last few bullpen spots being highly-competitive.
Today’s Matchup:
New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves
Time: 1:05 p.m. EST
Video: YES Network, Gotham Sports App, Gray TV, MLB Network (out-of-market, only)
Venue: George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, FL