Yankees’ Will Warren tells The Post why he now believes in himself: ‘I belong here’
Rookie Yankees starting pitcher Will Warren takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What drives you?
A: I think the want to be great, for sure. You remember the [Tom] Bradys and the [Michael] Jordans and stuff like that. We watch videos, and you can listen to stuff on them all the time. Like, those guys were stone-cold killers out there, they were gonna win the game no matter what, and I think that’s really cool. I strive to be like that. I feel like Gerrit [Cole] and Max [Fried] and [Carlos] Rodón take the mound, it’s like “Yeah, we’re gonna go win today.” I want to eventually get to that point where it’s like, “Oh, Warren’s on the mound. We’re winning today.”
Q: You watch videos of Brady and Jordan?
A: Yeah, yeah, we do some like mental skills stuff and watch some hype videos to get us going. You want to learn from those guys. There’s some Kobe interviews in there … Tom Brady, Jordan, Tiger Woods, like all those guys. They knew what their plan was and they were gonna go execute it.
Q: They’re inspiring videos?
A: They’ll give you chill bumps sitting there.
Q: Why do you believe you belong?
A: One of my pitching coaches in the minor leagues, [Gerardo] Casadiego, he told me, “You don’t get to the big leagues by accident.” Everyone’s here for a reason. These guys believe in me. I believe in myself. And I got a huge support staff that believes in me. I think I belong here because I truly do think that I can play here for a long time. I know what I’m capable of. I didn’t really show it last year, but I think that’s the learning curve, and just like moving on from those experiences and trying to learn from guys like Rodón and Gerrit and [Marcus] Stroman and Clarke [Schmidt], those guys have been through it. So just hearing stuff from them, learning from that, I think I belong here, for sure.
Q: Describe your mound mentality.
A: I would describe it as I like to be in a neutral mindset, I would say. Sometimes I get a little too emotional out there, you know, stuff starts going good, but you can’t ride the roller coaster just as soon as something happens and you get up there, they’re gonna hit something and then you can’t get down on yourself. Just being on the aggression, pounding the zone, here’s my stuff, but thinking at the same time, thinking along with the hitter. [Austin] Wells does a good job of balancing it out for me.
Q: What is the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?
A: My sophomore season in college, I think I had a 3-9 record or something like that. It’s my first year starting in college [Southeastern Louisiana]. I just had this hump in the fifth inning like, s–t would just hit the fan. I don’t know what it was, and then as a human you just start thinking about all the negative stuff I feel like — it’s like, “Oh, here’s the fifth,” and you could look up at that scoreboard and tell that something was gonna go wrong and it starts creeping in your mind. Coach [Matt] Riser was my coach in college, we were playing in the conference tournament, and it was win-or-go-home, and it was my turn to pitch. And he was like, “Hey, everything’s gone from the past year, this is starting your career right here.” And I ended up going seven, maybe, to Stephen F. Austin, we won the game and moved on. I think that kinda rolls into last year when I was up here, that was rough for me. I think as athletes we want to be the best, we all want to be perfect even though it’s not gonna happen. But yeah, coming up here I had high expectations for myself, and I just didn’t meet ’em or even come even close to ’em. It was hard, but I think learning from those failures has helped me this year mentally get my mind prepared and staying in that neutral mindset.
Q: How neat is it for you that your confidence is now where it should be?
A: I think it’s comfort level. I played with Wells and (Anthony) Volpe and some of the other guys last year when I came up. But I think I was trying to make sure that I don’t go down again. So putting a lot of pressure on myself. And this year I’ve kind of like reflected on that from last year. It’s more of like, “These are my guys.” Everybody in that clubhouse supports me, I support them, and whatever happens, happens. Only thing that I can control is when I go out there and throw the ball, and I think that leads to the confidence. You’re not putting all these other things in your mind to mess you up. You’re keeping it simple, keeping it to the basics, and I know that all these guys support me at the end of the day.
Q: Give me a scouting report on you as a pitcher.
A: Gonna attack the zone with a four-seam and a sinker. He’s got a sweeper that he’ll use to right and left. Got a curveball and changeup.
Q: Has one pitch been a difference-maker for you from a year ago to now?
A: I would say the changeup, for sure. We adjusted some stuff. We didn’t really change anything, we dove deeper into spin and stuff like that, it’s been a big thing. And I think just trusting it overall, having the confidence in it to throw it whenever. I’m feeling like I can throw it to right-handers and left-handers. I think that’s the biggest difference from last year and this year was not guiding it, if you will. It’s like, here it is, I’m throwing it, and I think that’s why you get the results you get.
Q: What is your approach to the torpedo bats?
A: They still gotta hit the ball at the end of the day. It’s still hard to hit. I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary. They were around last year, they’ve probably been around before. It’s just another big topic now, for sure.
Q: Is there a certain mental toughness that is required to pitch here in New York, and do you have it?
A: Yes, and yes. I don’t know if there’s a specific requirement. I’ve harped on it the whole interview, but I think just staying neutral. There’s gonna be a lot of outside noise, they’re gonna get loud when we hit a three-run bomb in the third inning, or they’re gonna get pumped when you strike somebody out. And then you give up a homer they’re gonna let you know. I think it’s just staying neutral and blocking out everything and just focusing on that pitch and that moment.
Q: In 25 words or less: Anthony Volpe.
A: Funny kid. Great baseball player. Awesome human being. He’s all-time. He’s helped me out a lot. He’s a hype man, he’ll hype me up.
Q: How does he do that?
A: (Laugh) I don’t know, he just tells me stuff that I’m like, “Let’s go!” He’s like, “You got this, you’re nasty!”
Q: What’s his ceiling?
A: I wouldn’t put one on him yet. He’s got everything it takes. He’s got speed, he plays a helluva defense … and he has four homers with Judge right now.
Q: Aaron Judge.
A: Greatest ever. He’s the best hitter I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes up to the plate I think he’s gonna hit a homer. He goes farther than just what he does on the field. He takes care of all of us, makes us feel welcome. He doesn’t need to do that, but he feels like that’s his job and that’s why he’s the Captain … he’s awesome.
Q: What is it like pitching to Austin Wells?
A: You look at like Buster Posey and Yady Molina and all those guys, they’re cool, calm, collected and Wells is the same way. But at the same time he’s got this little spark of energy. … He has that ability to hype you up, if you will, like, “Let’s go, man, that was perfect!” I think that’s why he’s so good at his job.
Q: Spencer Jones.
A: Large. He’s a freak athlete, for sure. There are not many 6-7 guys that run 22 miles an hour, and can hit the ball to both sides of the field with pop and play great defense.
Q: Jasson Domínguez.
A: He’s like the same thing as Volpe. I wouldn’t put a ceiling on him, either. He’s got the ability to be top-five in the league, for sure.
Q: What is the best piece of advice Gerrit Cole has given you, or what you’ve learned from watching and listening to him?
A: Gerrit told me that I don’t have to be anything more than what I needed to be. He told me to go be Will Warren. We can definitely talk baseball all day, and I’ll listen, but that one, that was nice to hear.
Q: Your social media post: “To uncover your true potential, you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past that.”
A: I probably heard it in a song or something and felt inspired … I don’t know … but it is a true statement. You can’t set any expectations too low for yourself. Set a goal and go take it, I guess.
Q: Who was Walker Wilbanks?
A: He was a grade above me in high school, his brother was a grade below me. He was a member of our baseball team, and on the football team, and he passed away in 2015, I believe. Freak accident. He was in the middle of a football game, got hit, went into a coma, and never came out.
Q: Were you at the game?
A: Yeah. It’s close to home because obviously we were friends growing up in high school and stuff together, but my brother looked up to Walker a lot. Walker was stocky, a little redhead, played first base, and my brother is a stocky little redhead. We ended up retiring Walker’s number. … Walker was like a fun, happy, go guy. Whoever [emulates] him closely gets 22. So for the first year we had it hung up in our dugout and stuff and my brother [Matthew] — he’s seven years younger than me — he’s like leaned up on the dugout and he’s standing right next to the jersey. And they posted a picture of it, and it’s just really cool ’cause you had this little redheaded kid and Walker’s jersey right there, and it was kind of like a full circle moment. Now my brother’s a senior in high school and he actually wears 22 for Walker.
Q: How did that affect you at the time?
A: Honestly, it brought our community very close together. We were meeting on the field and stuff, like having prayer circles ’cause we didn’t know what was going on. The whole community grew a lot from that. It was a tough time but it ended up bringing us all closer.
Q: You decided to wear your former high school coach Tom Box’s reading glasses that he left in the dugout as a joke.
A: He’s probably how baseball really started for me. I wasn’t taking it that serious for a long time. Like, I enjoyed baseball but I wasn’t dead-set “this is what I want to do” type deal, and coach Box saw some potential in me. He jumped my ass one time (laugh). We got super close, so I would always mess with him ’cause he’s super direct. We had a time-stamped schedule in high school about, “This is when we’re gonna do ground balls, this is when we have BP, this is when we have that,” and so he would always have his glasses on reading about a practice plan, so I was just being a stupid high schooler.
Q: How did he jump your ass?
A: He basically sat me down going into my junior season. Our entire team was pretty much leaving, going to SEC schools, and we needed someone to step up big. And yeah, I think coach Box saw some potential in me that — not that I necessarily didn’t see that — I just kind of was going through the motions, I wasn’t hammering practice like I should, probably. He basically just was like, “Hey, you got it. You can do this. But only you can make yourself do this. You gotta take this serious.” Honestly, from that moment on, I was like, “All right, if he believes in me then there’s something there.” I knew I was good, I thought I was good, but if he’s telling me this after these guys just left, I’m like, “There’s something there.” Sometimes when your parents tell you that, you’re like, “Oh, you’re just being nice, Mom and Dad.” For someone to jump me like that is, “Look yourself in the mirror and see where you’re standing.”
Q: If you pitched a shutout in high school you were allowed to take BP.
A: I was pretty small back in the day in high school.
Q: My sources tell me that you used a loaded bat for BP.
A: Oh, probably, for sure.
Q: Your teammates didn’t know it.
A: Don’t tell ’em — nah, I’m kiddin’, I’m kiddin’ (smile). Yeah, I probably needed a loaded bat to get it out of the infield.
Q: Congratulations on your marriage in December to Darby.
A: She’s my best friend. If I have anything that I need to tell anybody (laugh), I feel like she’s the first one that I go tell. We met in college, so we’ve been through a lot together. She puts up with this crazy lifestyle we have. She’s loving the New York City life right now. She can walk to wherever she wants to go, so she’s never bored.
Q: What are your favorite New York City things?
A: Pizza and bagels are unbelievable here.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: One thousand percent Drew Brees, diehard Saints fan; Alexander the Great; Derek Jeter.
Q: Why Jeter?
A: He’s Derek Jeter! (smile). You can’t describe it any better than that. He’s one of the best ever. He’s a winner. I feel like he was that neutral mindset that I talk about.
Q: Why Alexander the Great?
A: He’s a great leader. I want to know what he was thinking about.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: I can watch “Step Brothers” any time, any day. I probably know the whole thing word for word.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Mark Wahlberg.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Sabrina Carpenter.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Italian.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: I loved the Braves growing up. I was a big John Smoltz fan. Obviously, I was super young and then he stopped playing. We’d watch the Braves every night, and I would always listen to John Smoltz talk about the game.
Q: What did you like about Smoltz?
A: Like the greats I talk about, he had that killer mentality. He just took the ball at the end of the game, the game was over. And I think his ability just overall, it didn’t matter what the situation was, he was going out there and he was gonna get you out in his mind.
Q: How close are you to having that killer mentality?
A: I’d like to think that I have it right now, but I don’t know. I think it’s also one of those things when the lights turn on, it changes when you run out there and cross that line, like your mindset changes. I don’t really know how to describe it. But I think if you ask everybody in that clubhouse, they would answer the same way.
Q: What is it like standing on the mound knowing that you’re pitching for the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium?
A: Yeah, that’s a dream come true. I told myself that I want to play in MLB, but did I really believe it until I got my butt chewed out? Probably not. And then, after that, I was like, “Yeah, let’s go do this thing.” I’m very blessed to be in the position that I am.
Q: Your message to Yankees fans about Will Warren.
A: A competitor … fun guy, I guess (laugh) … I’m here to help the team win as many games as we can, and … enjoy the ride.
Q: What do you hope Yankees fans say about you?
A: I hope they get to the point where they think about it (laugh) like I think when Rodón and Fried and them take the mound. It’s like, “We’re gonna have a good one today,” I guess. That’s what I want ’em to think.
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