Ryan Weathers’ time in the rotation may come to an end sometime this month, especially with Carlos Rodón possibly coming back into the rotation after one more rehab start.
But Weathers isn’t going to make the decision an easy one.
The lefty delivered his fourth straight excellent start in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Seattle. He gave up just one run over 5 ²/₃ innings, touched for a solo homer by Randy Arozarena with one out in the top of the sixth.
At that point, the lethargic Yankees offense still hadn’t scored, which seems to be a nightly occurrence in The Bronx.
But the solid work by Weathers allowed the Yankees to come back in the bottom of the seventh, when they finally broke through against the Mariners with four runs.
Weathers entered Tuesday having given up just one run over 18 ²/₃ innings in his previous three starts and was excellent again while facing a Mariners team that’s been in a similar scoring drought to the Yankees.
“I’m in this organization to win ballgames at this level,” Weathers said after the game. “Whatever that means, I think I’m a valuable asset in any role. That’s what I want [Aaron Boone] to know about me. If I’m in the bullpen, that’s fine.”
Despite his run of success, there has been the thought that Weathers’ stuff would translate to the bullpen better than right-hander Will Warren’s.
But pitching coach Matt Blake said the team hasn’t determined how they will handle the rotation once Rodón gets back from his inflamed elbow.
“Weathers is throwing the ball extremely well lately, and there are a lot of valuable innings to be had as a starter,” Blake said. “I don’t think we’ve made a decision one way or the other with Carlos coming back. We’ll let it play out. It usually sorts itself out, as it has so far this year.”
Another factor to consider is that Weathers has also had a much heavier workload than in any of his other five major league seasons.
Prior to this year, he’d never started more than 18 games or pitched more than 94 ²/₃ innings as a major leaguer. He pitched a combined 136 ²/₃ innings between the majors and minors in 2023.
After Tuesday’s performance, his 23rd start of the year, he’s up to 126 ²/₃ innings.
“I feel great,” Weathers said. “My arm is really good.”
Still, even Weathers is intrigued by the possibility of moving to a relief role, at least down the stretch.
“In the bullpen, who knows what I can do?” Weathers said. “It’s a shorter burst and you’re not setting up hitters. You just throw nasty stuff and get three outs. And in the playoffs, all bets are off at the end. I just want to be a Swiss Army knife.’’
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He was good enough to throw 22 ²/₃ consecutive scoreless innings before Arozarena took him deep, which also ended his streak of having retired 11 batters in a row.
Weathers continued using a different pitch mix, featuring his sinker and slider more, with less of his four-seam fastball and sweeper.
The results have followed, with fewer homers allowed.
“He’s got a great handle on who he is and what he needs to do,’’ Aaron Boone said. “He’s executing at a high level right now.”
