Candidate to Replace Gerrit Cole Emerges After Surgery Announcement

The New York Yankees took a gut-punching blow in their 2025 campaign already—and it's eight circles on the calendar until Opening Day. 

Gerrit Cole is undergoing Tommy John surgery and is out for the season's entirety. 

Now without their ace—and while dealing with an ongoing lat strain injury to Luis Gil—they must reach into their organizational depth for a replacement they can rely upon.

Rookie pitcher Will Warren has been crawling his way up the depth ladder this spring. He added a timely and "gritty" victory to the books in spring training on Monday. 

“I thought even today was just another good day when I don’t even think he was necessarily at his best, and that’s important, too,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I just think he made big strides. He’s put himself right smack in the middle of the conversation.”

Warren relinquished two hits and two runs (but one earned) though he only struck out one across 3 ²/₃ innings in the 10-2 decision over the Detroit Tigers. He threw 33 of his 57 pitches for strikes.

“Not a lot of strikes and didn’t attack early,” said Warren. “But overall, I think it’s nice to get one of those out of the way. Compete a little bit. I don’t even know if I had a strikeout today. Probably not. But, yeah, just attacking the zone even if I’m behind in the count shows where I’m at and I’m just trying to minimize the damage.”