For the first time, the New York Yankees got a glimpse of what hard-throwing Ryan Weathers can bring to the table. The former Miami Marlins hurler struck out seven batters, gave up one run, four hits, and issued two walks in a 77-pitch, 4 1/3 debut.
While it was a solid debut for the injury-prone southpaw, he’s not satisfied with ‘solid.’ Following the game, Weathers claimed that he has to go deeper into his starts. That will obviously depend on being in control:
“I definitely want to be more efficient and be in the zone a little bit more,” Weathers said, per Bryan Hoch. “I don’t want to hang my hat on 4 1/3 innings. I want to get deeper into the ballgame, and a lot of that comes from managing the pitch count myself and not falling behind in counts.”
Weathers tossed 49 strikes in his first outing with the Bronx Bombers. Even though he didn’t go as deep into the game as he would’ve liked, it was still a positive sign for someone who only managed to be on the mound for 38 1/3 innings last season because of injuries.
All in all, the Yankees’ pitching staff has been one of the best storylines of the early MLB season. The bullpen hadn’t given up a single run until Cal Raleigh’s walk-off hit on Monday night, and Weathers knows he’ll have to do his part to keep that momentum going:
“The whole pitching staff has been doing well, starters and relievers,” Weathers said. “We’ve given up three runs as a whole entire pitching staff. That’s really good. Hopefully we can keep getting outs and keep it rolling.”
Injury concerns will always be there, as he has yet to throw 100 innings in a single season in his career. That said, the early returns were certainly encouraging.