Yankees’ Rotation is Built to Withstand a Max Fried Injury

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May 15, 2026

Coming into the 2026 season, the New York Yankees’ starting rotation was hanging on by a thread. Without Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees had one established starting pitcher in Max Fried. But in his tenth start of the season on Wednesday, Fried exited the game after three innings due to left elbow soreness. His outlook for the rest of 2026 is bleak, as Fried could certainly miss extended time. However, even if he must, the Yankees’ starting rotation is more than capable of carrying his load.

A Certified Ace

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Despite dominating the 2025 postseason with a 1.26 ERA and 14 strikeouts, Cam Schlittler had made 16 total big league starts up to that point. He looked like a future ace, but the sample size was hard to trust. Unfortunately, that’s what the Yankees had to do, making Schlittler their second starter in the rotation.

So far, that decision has more than paid off. Through nine starts this season, Schlittler has a 5-1 record, a 1.35 ERA, 59 strikeouts, and a 0.81 WHIP. All of those statistics rank in the top five in the American League, with his ERA trailing Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani’s 0.82 mark for the best in baseball.

Fried might be gone, but Schlittler is more than ready to take over as the rotation’s ace.

Two Surging 26-Year-Olds

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While Schlittler wasn’t a sure thing, neither were Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.

Warren showed flashes in his first full season, striking out 171 batters in 162 1/3 innings. However, his ERA was 4.44. His underlying metrics supported that number, as he ranked in the fifteenth percentile or worse in hard-hit rate, barrel rate, chase rate, and average exit velocity.

This season, Warren has been a different pitcher. Through nine starts, he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs in all but one of them. He’s also struck out 59 batters like Schlittler, giving him a 29.8% strikeout rate that ranks in the 90th percentile. His command supplements that mark, with his 6.1% walk rate ranking in the 85th percentile.

Weathers, meanwhile, was nothing short of a gamble. Despite missing parts of multiple seasons with various injuries, the Yankees needed him to perform well in 2026. And through eight starts, he’s done exactly that.

Like Warren, Weathers has relied on strikeouts and good command to succeed. With a 29.8% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate, the seventh overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft is living up to the hype. His 3.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP aren’t otherworldly, but they’re more than acceptable for a back-of-the-rotation starter.

The Veterans

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In his first start of the season on Sunday, Rodon showed flashes of his 2024 and 2025 selves, taking a no-hitter into the fourth inning. His command was subpar, but for someone making his first big league start in almost seven months, it was acceptable.

Cole, meanwhile, is still on a rehab assignment with the Somerset Patriots in Double-A. His ERA is higher than the Yankees would like, but through five starts, he’s struck out 22 batters and walked two. In a matter of weeks, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner should be donning pinstripes.