Erik Boland: Yankees pitcher Will Warren told himself, 'Go be you,' and he did just that
Yankees pitcher Will Warren delivers during the first inning against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday in Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Getty Images/Sage Zipeto
CHICAGO — Will Warren doesn’t lack for confidence.
Or self-awareness.
After one of the worst outings of an up-and-down-season — he allowed six runs and six hits in three innings-plus last Sunday in Philadelphia — he didn’t bother with “the ball felt good coming out of my hand” or “the stuff felt pretty good, for the most part.”
“Pretty [expletive] overall,” Warren said, going full scatological.
Friday afternoon was the polar opposite.
The righthander delivered his best outing of the season and did it against one of the National League’s better offenses, allowing four hits and no walks in 6 2/3 innings in the Yankees' 2-0 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
“That right there is what he’s capable of when he’s on his game,” manager Aaron Boone said.
That’s where Warren was to start the season: 4-0 with a 2.39 ERA after his first seven starts.
But it had been a roller coaster from there, starting with start No. 8, when he allowed six runs and seven hits in four innings in a loss to the Rangers.
After going 0-3 with a 7.61 ERA in his previous six games (five starts), he moved to 8-5 with a 4.14 ERA with Friday's efficient performance, in which he threw 55 of his 88 pitches for strikes.
“You get your [butt] kicked a couple times, you’re sort of like, ‘OK, when was I rolling?’ ” said Warren, who turned in his second-longest outing of the season behind the seven innings he lasted against the Royals on April 18 in his fifth start. “At the beginning of the year, it was night and day from let’s say the last five or six [starts]. What was different about those? And I think it was not thinking about the result of it, just being in the present. Just playing baseball, at the end of the day.
“We’re all in here for a reason,” he added. “Like, all of us are good. Just go play your game, at the end of the day. Baseball’s tough, you’re going to have ups and downs. It might not be my day, but if I go out there and play like I’m supposed to, I think I have what it takes to come out on top pretty much every time. And I think I got away from that during these last few.”
Acknowledging that it might sound simplistic, Warren said he “got away from having fun” on the mound.
The “fun,” of course, stems from the belief that his stuff is better than a given hitter’s ability to do damage with it.
“I think I was trying to do too much or trying to prevent stuff before it happened, and it’s like, ‘There’s nobody on. Why are you trying to prevent anything?’ ” Warren said. “And I think I just had to tackle it head on, look myself in the mirror and be like, ‘That’s not who you are as a pitcher. Go be you.’ ”
And “you” means what, exactly?
“Confident, free flowing and just playing ball,” Warren said with a smile. “It’s the little kid analogy. You play Wiffle ball in the front yard, I never go out there and freak out about who’s going to hit a homer, you know what I mean? I’m just going out there and playing.
"I think it’s like when you get a phone. What works for you? I don’t think stressing about it or limiting myself to stuff based on other people’s performances. Like, ‘Oh, this guy can hit this pitch’ or whatever. I’m like, ‘Well, that’s what I’m good at. I’m going to throw it anyway.’ I think I got away from that a little bit.”
The outing was desperately needed, though not from a starting pitching standpoint. The Yankees continue to be dominant in that regard; the rotation entered the day ranked third in the American League in ERA (3.54). In the past four games, Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Ryan Weathers and Warren allowed a combined one run, 13 hits and six walks with 26 strikeouts in 26 innings for a 0.35 ERA and 0.73 WHIP.
With the rotation collectively being an area of strength (in the minors as well), general manager Brian Cashman could choose to deal from that in order to address some of his club’s other needs — such as an offense that has scored four runs and gone 16-for-104 (.154) in the last 31 innings.
That could put Warren, about whom Cashman has received inquiries, in play as a candidate to be dealt before Monday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
“Control what you can control,” said Warren, who was backed by Amed Rosario's 450-foot home run to center in the fourth and Spencer Jones' 418-foot blast to right-center in the fifth, both off lefthander Shota Imanaga. “Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen, so that’s never been on my mind.”
What was on Warren’s mind was something he texted Chad Bohling, the club’s senior director of organizational performance (mental conditioning coach for short) soon after returning to the clubhouse from the field.
“I texted Chad right after the game and said, ‘Wow, I had fun for the first time in a long time,’ ” Warren said.
He looked it.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
