You can tell Yankees pitching prospect Will Warren is from the deep South by his voice. There’s a little twang in it. He grew up in Brandon, Miss., a suburb of Jackson that is SEC football country. Up north Ole’ Miss, is 125 miles away in Oxford, and Mississippi State is over in Starkville, 160 miles from home.
“I’m a Mississippi State fan,” Warren said enthusiastically in a Zoom interview last week. “My uncle played baseball there. I used to go to football games all the time, especially in high school.”
Baseball is his sport, but Warren never thought it would his future when he was a very short and skinny high school sophomore.
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The right-hander has come a long way. A massive growth spurt led to a college scholarship at Southeastern Louisiana, a small Division 1 program that isn’t far from home. He grew some more in college, and now he’s a hard throwing 6-foot-2, 197-pounder armed with a mid-to-high 90s two-seam fastball that has a lot of movement, a sweeping slider that often is filthy and a plus changeup.
The Yankees selected Warren in the eighth round of the 2021 draft, turned him loose this year, and what a debut season it was going from the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades to the Double-A Somerset Patriots. His numbers were pretty solid — 9-9 record, 3.91 ERA in 26 starts, 125 strikeouts in 129 innings — and he passed the eye test in a big way. He cracked MLB Pipeline’s Yankees top 30 prospect list at No. 30 in August after a bunch of organizational arms were dealt in trade-deadline deals, then he climbed all the way to eighth by season’s end. The only Yankees prospects ahead of Warren are position players, so he’s now their top-ranked pitcher.
Warren, 23, talked about his upbringing and breakout season with NJ Advance Media for a Q & A:
You’re a Mississippi State fan and it’s a college baseball power. Was going there a childhood dream?
“I grew up a diehard Mississippi State fan. That’s where my parents went to school. The only thing I wanted to do was go to Mississippi State to play baseball because they’re very good and it’s right there.”
Did they recruit you?
“Right at the end of my junior year, Ole’ Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss started recruiting me, but I’d already committed to Southeastern Louisiana. So I was like, “This ship has sailed.” I was a late bloomer. From my sophomore to my junior year in high school, I grew nine inches. I went from throwing 78-to-80 (mph) to 86-to-88.”
You grew nine inches in a year? You went from very short to tall so fast.
“I was 5-2 going into my sophomore year. Oh, I was tiny, an itty bitty guy.”
Did you do any pitching that year?
“I threw 3 1/3 innings. I didn’t throw hard, but I could put it wherever it needed to go.”
Did the growth spurt shock you?
“My dad’s 6-foot-3 and just massive. My mom is 5-2. I was hoping I didn’t get my mom’s side.”
You got your dad’s side.
“I grew another inch or two in college. Now I’m almost 6-3. I was definitely a late bloomer.”
You blossomed quickly since being drafted. You made it to Double-A in your first season, you had some success and MLB Pipeline ranked you pretty high in the Yankees’ prospects list.
“I didn’t know what to expect last season. I didn’t know if it was going to be this big jump from college to pro ball. Then I played against guys in the spring training and I could tell if you make a mistake, hitters are going to make you pay. At that point, I just tried to think about my goal after spring training and it was to start the season with Hudson Valley. When that ended up happening, I had to make a new goal, which was take sail and put up good numbers in High-A because I did not expect to go to Double A so soon. When I got the call to Double-A, I changed my goal to putting up good numbers at Somerset. And then all this (prospect-ranking) stuff happened. I get put on the top 30 prospects, then No. 1 pitcher.”
What does that mean to you to be the Yankees’ No. 1 pitching prospect? I’m sure it’s exciting, but does it bring pressure?
“I have something to prove. Before I was there, I was like, “I’m going to show you all who I am and what I can do.” That’s how I motivated myself, because I wanted people to see that I’m a real deal. Now that I’ve worked my way up to that, I want to make sure that I prove people right for putting me there.”
What’s the biggest takeaway from your 2022 season?
“The growth, how much I learned. I’m not even talking about the strength stuff. I’m talking about being in the game and learning what pitches to throw. I faced five or six guys that got called up to the big leagues. I learned things like, “This guy got me on this pitch because I should have thrown this pitch.” Talking to coaches in the dugout, you learn. I learned so much in such a short amount of time.”
You weren’t drafted in high school and were passed over again your junior year in college. When did you start thinking a career in baseball was a possibility?
“I didn’t really even think about playing college baseball until after I grew. Then when I show up at Southeastern Louisiana, we have a great baseball program but it’s a smaller school. Going there, I never thought I was going to make it in baseball. After my freshman year, my coaches told me they wanted me to be one of the weekend starters the next year. That’s when I started thinking, ‘I might actually be able to make this happen.’”
Then came two tough years in a row. There were struggles on the mound as a college sophomore, 6.72 ERA. You get off to a great start your junior year, 1.92 ERA in five games, then COVID canceled the season. Then you’re passed over in the shortened five-round MLB draft. Those had to be frustrating years.
“Sophomore year I went through a little bit of a slump. You can look at the numbers and tell that I was miserable. I was hating baseball. But that summer I played summer ball and figured out a bunch of mechanical stuff and came back for my junior year ready to roll.”
And then COVID hit.
“I’d put up numbers before the season was canceled and I thought I was going to be drafted in the five rounds. It didn’t work out.”
At that point, your options were going back to college or signing with someone for $10,000, the max allowed that year for free agents. You opted to return to school. Tough call?
“Actually, I got called by the Yankees to sign a free-agent contract. I thought about it for a while. But I was in the last year of my major, so I decided to go back and graduate. I’d be a junior again on the field, so I wasn’t going to lose leverage for the draft.”
You majored in Kinesiology. What would you be doing now if you weren’t playing baseball?
“I’d be in physical therapy school. Biology Pre-Med was my original major and I switched to Kinesiology. I figured I could still go to physical therapy school, but switching majors would give me a little more leeway with sports because I’m not going to be studying 24/7. And that’s when the COVID year happened. At first I thought, ‘Oh, dang, that’s going to mess it up.’”
Things worked out. You get your degree. You have a good senior season. The Yankees draft you in the eighth round. You get a $150,000 signing bonus.
It worked out for me even better. It was important for me to get my degree because now I have something to fall back on if somehow it doesn’t work out in baseball. But I went back to college and put up good numbers again and got drafted. And I’m back with the Yankees. My agent and my parents always told me, ‘You’re going to be where you’re meant to be.’ I guess the Yankees is where I was meant to be since it happened twice.”
You were drafted in 2021, but didn’t make your pro debut until this year. I’m guessing the Yankees wanted to limit your innings because of your workload as a college senior, career-high 91 innings. Instead, you go to the Yankees’ minor-league complex in Tampa and apparently got a lot better. I’ve heard you refined your mechanics, developed a two-seamer, improved your slider and got a lot stronger. How big was this time for your development?
“I had the height when I came in, but I was scrawny. I weighed 177 when I showed up to Tampa for strength camp and when I went to spring training this year I was 196. They put me on a strength program. I’ve never really lifted that much, but I looked at it as now it’s my job and this is what I have to do to make it. After I gained the first five pounds, I was like, ‘Wow, they know what they’re doing.’ I also learned from all the technology and all Yankees guys that are hands on. They helped me with my slider. I threw more of a cutter in college. It didn’t move that much. We tried a bunch of different things and finally one grip stuck.”
I’ve seen video of your slider. It reminded me of Adam Ottavino’s wideout slider. You must have felt great adding that to your arsenal.
“Preston Claiborne was my offseason (pitching instructor) last year, so he was working with me. He says, ‘Will, we’re going to start throwing this slider.’ He’s doing video standing behind me and my first slider was terrible. The second one was a little better. After the third one did exactly what it was supposed to do, my eyes got big and I dropped my mouth. I turned around and said, ‘What was that?’ Preston said, ‘That’s what you’re going to throw.’”
I read that you were throwing 98-99 four-seam fastballs in college and now you’re throwing mostly two-seamers that are in mid-90s and touch 97 with a lot of movement. That’s been a big pitch for you, too, right?
“I threw two-seamers in college, but we’re a small school and we didn’t have all the analytics stuff. I didn’t sink the ball like it was supposed to. It was more of a four-seamer. It was just straight. When I got to the Yankees, they taught us how to read data and change things and it started sinking. Then I sat probably 91 mph. Now that I’ve put on all this weight, I’m throwing a lot harder. Those things with improved pitch shape and pitch package that the Yankees have helped me build have really helped out.”
Looking at your day-by-days from last season, you started out at Hudson Valley and had a lot of success. Then you go to Double-A and start out great. I see you that had a tough last month — 8.22 ERA in four September starts counting playoffs — but at that point you were well past the most innings you’d ever thrown. Were hitters making adjustments or was fatigue a factor to the struggles?
“I definitely started getting tired. The most I’d thrown was 91 innings in college my last year and this year I threw 133 (counting playoffs). You’re going to have ups and downs in baseball. I was going through a little bit of that, and then towards the end I was getting a little tired. Our strength coach asked if I was feeling alright. I said, ‘Well, I’ve never played this much before, so I don’t really know how I’m supposed to feel.’ He said, ‘If you’re not complaining, then you’re in a good spot.’ My arm was tired, but it was just something that I wasn’t used to and I need to adjust to.”
Your Somerset Patriots team won the Eastern League championship and you played with a lot of the Yankees’ other top prospects. Fun season.
“For sure. I heard about all these guys right after I got drafted … Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez, Austin Wells. I heard how unbelievable they are and I got to watch it firsthand in spring training. And then playing with those guys in Hudson Valley and Somerset, I learned a lot. And then taking that into the playoffs and doing what we did, I had a blast.”
You mentioned Wells. Hitting is his biggest tool. That’s why he was a first-round pick, but scouts have told me his catching really improved this year. He caught you in spring training, Hudson Valley and Somerset. Anything stand out?
“Wells has a hundred percent bought in to being a catcher. He takes full responsibility for whatever happens, no matter if the pitcher messed up or shook him off. He’ll come in the dugout and say, “That’s on me. I should have told you to throw something else.” You could see his maturity throughout the year calling games. He’s for real behind the plate now.”
You also played with the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect. What was your biggest takeaway from being a teammate to Volpe?
“He’s the best player I’ve ever played with. When the Derek Jeter documentary came out in the middle of this season, we watched it and were like, ‘Dang, this is crazy. This is who we’re playing with!’”
Was there one moment that stood out, something Volpe did that was a wow factor?
“Last game of the first half we had to beat Hartford to clinch the playoffs. We’re in extra innings, down one and Volpe comes up with a runner on second. We’re facing Hartford closer Gavin Hollowell, who got called up to the big leagues by the Rockies in September. Like Volpe, Hollowell is from New Jersey. His family is in the stands and he’s been just lockdown. Volpe hits a walk-off home run to put us in the playoffs. That defines Volpe. He’s a winner.”
How about Jasson Dominguez, five-tool outfield prospect? You got a chance to play with him at the end of the season, too. What stood out?
“He is a freak athlete. I faced Jasson in spring training a good bit, and it’s funny because I threw him the same sequence three times in a row. The first one I won. The second one he hit something hard. And then he hit a home run off of me. The coaches told me, ‘You were throwing him the same pitch sequence every time.’ I didn’t even realize it. They were like, ‘Dominguez is not like a normal hitter. He’s going to remember that and he’s going to hit you.’ He knew what was coming and smacked it. And then I spent the end of the season with Dominguez in Double-A and he just continued to hit and play defense. All around, he’s very gifted.”
What are your goals for next season? A lot of pitchers nowadays go from Double-A to the big leagues in a year, especially the way bullpens are used. Some scouts look at your velo, look at your slider and think you could be a high-leverage reliever someday. Maybe that’s the quickest way for you to get there even though your long-term future could be as a starter.
“I’m good with whatever. In college I did both. I went to the bullpen for a little bit my junior year. In my mind, I will have success whether I’m starting or in the bullpen. My goals for next year are to keep having success. Try to get to Triple-A, if I don’t start there. And if I do start there, try to get to the big leagues.”
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.