The New York Yankees had to call upon designated emergency starter, rookie Will Warren, to make another start on Wednesday night amid a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels. Warren, however, ended up pitching the worst game of his brief professional career thus far. In 4.1 innings of work, the 25-year-old starter allowed eight earned runs in what ended up being an 8-2 defeat for the Yankees.
Given the Yankees’ injury woes in the rotation, the doubleheader situation brought forth by the weather afforded them an opportunity call Warren up. This, however, ended up being a disaster. Nevertheless, as the 27th man, the Yankees will now be returning Warren to the minor leagues at the conclusion of the doubleheader, as announced in their official X account.
Will Warren wasn’t lights out during the first time the Yankees needed him to assume an emergency starting role. Back on July 30, the Yankees had to scratch Gerrit Cole from a start due to fatigue, and Warren’s start at least did not end in disaster. He allowed four earned runs in 5.1 innings, which is not too shabby of a performance in a 7-6 win against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Yankees’ rotation will be assuming regular programming tomorrow, with Nestor Cortes set to take the hill in their series finale against the Angels. New York, however, will be hoping to get Clarke Schmidt and Cody Poteet back as soon as possible so they could have their rotation depth back to where it was earlier in the season as they look to hold off the Baltimore Orioles in the heated race for the AL East crown.
Yankees still believe in Will Warren despite rough 2024
Whenever a starter is struggling to the tune of a 6.11 ERA in Triple-A, calling him up to the big leagues isn’t exactly the best idea. But the Yankees clearly believe in Warren’s abilities, with manager Aaron Boone diving into the silver linings in the 25-year-old’s rough start against the Angels on Wednesday.
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“He’s a confident kid and I really believe he’s going to be really good pitcher in this league. There’s a lot of good things to take away, but a lot of things, obviously, to still build on,” Boone said, per Gary Phillips of NY Daily News.
To his credit, Will Warren did try to make the most of his opportunity, although he now knows that he has to be more on point to put up a better outing in Yankee Stadium.
“It was everything I thought it could be. It was awesome. Obviously, didn’t go the way I planned. But I enjoyed every minute of it,” Warren said.
