Health is Wealth for the 2026 New York Yankees Rotation
SportsGrid Contributor Just Baseball
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A lot’s been made of an uncharacteristically inactive winter for the New York Yankees.
They added left-handed starter Ryan Weathers in a trade with the Miami Marlins. However, most of their other moves involved retaining 2025 alumni. Not only was the winter suspiciously Yankees-withdrawn, but there weren’t a lot of rumors involving them, either.
Be that as it may, they’re still going to have a great roster barring injury. The lineup, even if one is skeptical that outfielder Trent Grisham can repeat his 2025 success, is very talented. It all starts at the top with future Hall of Famer Aaron Judge, but the group around him still posted a 108 wRC+ last year. That would’ve ranked ninth in MLB.
But the major question marks land in the rotation. At full health, the framework is there for it to be elite. However, it won’t be at full health for quite some time. The group FanGraphs projects for the Yankees on Opening Day is as follows:
- Max Fried, LHP
- Cam Schlittler, RHP
- Will Warren, RHP
- Ryan Weathers, LHP
- Luis Gil, RHP
It’s still a talented group, but one that is missing a lot of pedigree. Couple that with an aging position player corps and a talented American League East, and you generate more noise from the doubters. Keeping this group healthy is almost as important as getting those recovering back to full strength.
But with an All-Star already at the front and two more waiting in the wings, getting those three into the same rotation is paramount. But they’re in a strong position not only to survive, but thrive with this quintet.
Full Year of Cam Schlittler
It’s hard not to be impressed by the 25-year-old out of Northeastern University. Even if his rookie campaign didn’t yield a 3.96 ERA and 27.6% strikeout rate across 73 innings, his postseason was special.
Cam Schlittler made two starts in the 2025 postseason, allowing just two earned runs and 13 hits across 14.1 innings. Obviously, the most impressive was eight shutout frames against the Boston Red Sox in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the Wild Card Round.
His command sometimes failed him last year, but there’s no denying the dominance of his fastball. He ranked in the 89th percentile for run value on his fastball and 95th percentile for average fastball velocity. Opponents in general hit just .173 against his four-seam with a 27.9% whiff rate. A pitch he used 55.9% of the time kept hitters at bay.
A large hallmark of a quality MLB pitcher nowadays is an elite out pitch. Schlittler has that with his heater; his cutter as well, which grades out in the elite range in horizontal break.
He’s got a ton of added pressure entering 2026 as the de facto No. 2 starter. But as he showed in the postseason, he’s not exactly scared of the pressure.
Ryan Weathers is a Very Intriguing No. 4 Starter
It’s hard to deny the talent Weathers has, but there are a couple of red flags. For starters, he’s yet to sustain success over a full season. In fact, the closest he’s come to a full season’s workload was in 2021, when he pitched 94.2 innings.
But as a No. 4 starter, there’s minimal pressure on him to come in and dominate. Well, as minimal pressure as one can have in New York.
His top pitch last year was the sweeper, which held opponents to a .174 average with a 39.1% whiff rate on 18.7% usage. His changeup also profiled well, though to suboptimal effect. Those two pitches were lethal for him in 2024 and promise to be even more lethal as he continues to develop.
Like Schlittler, Weathers also has a powerful fastball. In fact, he got it up to 98.5 mph in live batting practice on February 16. It’s not historically his best pitch, but he’s consistently added velocity since 2023. That said, his focus is on staying healthy and being available.
For the Yankees to be successful, they can’t afford many more injuries to their rotation, especially not to arms as talented as Weathers, who, despite his amount of MLB experience, is still just 26 years old.
Don’t Forget About Luis Gil
Luis Gil, the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year, dealt with serious command issues but mostly durability concerns in his sophomore season.
His slider was still a plus offering, but his fastball regressed in a significant way in his second year.
But we can’t simply forget how good he was as a rookie. Sure, our most recent impression of him is a far cry from his rookie season. However, he was one of the game’s most exciting right-handers in 2024.
His slider held hitters to a .171 average with a 31.4% whiff rate. His sinker saw similar success, while his four-seamer gave him three pitches with an opposing batting average of .205 or lower.
His stuff is electric, but his command has always been a concern. In 2024, a high chase rate bucked the command issues. As his chase regressed, so did the strikeouts, as did the walks. He’s an uber-talented arm with plus fastball velocity, but control is key for Gil.
Rounding out the 2026 Yankees rotation with a wild card like Gil isn’t a bad thing. He’s low enough in the rotation to soften the burden on him to carry the rotation. The No. 5 spot is also one where they can plug others in if Gil isn’t up to snuff.
But the 2026 Yankees need to stay afloat until they have their two All-Stars return from injury.
The Returns
The biggest return the Yankees await is that of right-hander Gerrit Cole. After missing all of 2025, he’s slated to come back sometime midseason.
There’s no guarantee he’ll be back to pre-surgery form. But it’s important to remember the caliber of arm the Yankees had. Even if he’s 80% of his former self, he’s still one of the best right-handers in the game. In 2024, despite an elbow injury that lingered for much of the season, he had a 3.41 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 95 innings. He even contributed a 2.17 ERA in 29 postseason innings.
Coming back to a rotation anchored by Fried and ideally Schlittler gives Cole a buffer to work out his rust at the MLB level. To win World Series No. 28, the Yankees will need him at his best when it matters most.
Carlos Rodón, however, should return even sooner. Lost in the dominance of other left-handers in the division was Rodón’s great 2025 campaign. He finally stacked consecutive healthy seasons, and he improved on a topsy-turvy 2024 season. Last year, he posted a 3.09 ERA with the tenth-most strikeouts in the majors.
He, along with Fried, tied for the fourth-most innings in the league. So, while he may not be the best southpaw in the league, his absence will certainly be felt, no matter how long it’s there.
The Yankees weren’t good enough to win it all in 2025. They responded by retaining a lot of that roster. However, their rotation should be a position of strength when fully healthy; they need to get there.
The post Health is Wealth for 2026 New York Yankees Rotation appeared first on Just Baseball.
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