TAMPA, FL. — Luis Gil appears to have won the No. 5 and final spot within the New York Yankees’ starting rotation, but Luke Weaver helped make a strong case to be on the Yankees’ radar as either a long reliever or a spot starter.
Overcoming a shaky start to the exhibition season, the 30-year-old journeyman right-hander went 3.1 scoreless innings last week in a 12-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing just two hits and striking out two.
“I felt good, feels like some of the adjustments I’ve been making this offseason and spring training have been clicking together really nicely, creating some consistency,” Weaver said.
With the majority of his pitches being mid-90s fastballs earlier in the spring, he opted for his off-speed pitches to get outs more efficiently. He needed just 50 pitches to get through his outing against Pittsburgh.
“It’s not necessarily like I’m getting beat at the plate, I’m just getting kinda nickeled and dimed, and then getting beat at the back end with pitch count early,” Weaver explained. “There’s those moments where we’re complementing pitches to try not to rely on it, and more so using it as a weapon as opposed to something that is life-or-death, so to speak.”
If nothing, he has the confidence of his teammates.
“Weaver went out there and did this thing,” Aaron Judge said. “He’s gonna be a big piece for us, especially with Gerrit being down for a little bit of time, any chance you get a guy like Weaver to be your swingman… hop in when you need a quality start, this guy has electric stuff.”
With Gil, Will Warren, and Cody Poteet, there was plenty of competition to go around for the grand prize of being that fifth starter in the rotation.
“Sometimes it can get daunting and exhausting, but it’s also a good challenge; never satisfied with just having a good outing,” Weaver said. “So when I take an outing like [Wednesday] and then my last live BP, there’s always just gonna be things that you take positives from, you learn from the negatives, and you just learn a way to marriage them together and be as consistent as possible. I want enough good moments that eventually create great moments.”
It’s visible to his teammates how much of a competitor he is, fighting for every chance with the ball.
“He’s a guy who wants to improve, who wants to get better every single year,” Judge explained. “Anytime you get a competitor like that it helps out.”
With all this said and done, it is still business as usual for Weaver, starting rotation or not.
“It’s just about how you think about it, are you going to allow that decision [which] you don’t get to make affect you in a positive, negative [way]?” Weaver said. “I’m gonna show up every day, I’m gonna have fun, mingle with the guys, have some good laughs, work and get better, and then whatever decision that’s out of my control happens, I’ll adjust and I know how to do it. I know what it’s like to be a reliever and I know what it’s like to be a starter. Just go pitch and be good, simple as that.”
