My thoughts on the 2025 Yankees opening day roster

The majority of this roster talk will not be about the Aaron Judges or Jazz Chisloms of the world. I want to speak about some of the rookies and lesser-known players who made the opening roster for the 2025 New York Yankees.  

The first player I want to discuss is starting pitcher Marcus Stroman. My initial thought is that Stroman is a good pickup for the Yanks. He has become a pitcher where you know what you are getting. Stroman usually pitches over 30 games a season which is a rarity nowadays. Last season he had an ERA of 4.31 and an FIP of 4.62, tallying that along with a 95 ERA+ which is 5 points below league average. This was not his best season, however, it is noteworthy that when he did pitch the defense behind him did not help at all. Stroman is primarily a groundball pitcher. In hindsight having a groundball pitcher doesn’t make sense with the team the Yankees had last year. Previously, they had a revolving door at third base with Gleybor Torres at 18 errors by himself on the year.  With the moves this past offseason it makes more sense to have a guy like Stro to get soft contact to get his outs. I hope Stro has a bounce-back year and proves that he still has some gas left in the tank. I am rooting for him to succeed this year. 

Will Warren is the next player I want to discuss. He has found himself in a similar position that Luis Gil was in last year with multiple players in the rotation having injuries before the start of the season. Gerrit Cole is out for the year, Luis Gil is out until at least June, and Clark Scdmit has a shoulder issue to start the season. The next man up is Will Warren. This past spring training he looked fantastic, with an ERA of 4.19 and a WHIP of 4.58 along with 19 strikeouts in 19.1 innings of work. These stats aren’t going to jump off the page but it’s the underlying stats that are on his side. In his short stint in the majors last year he had a BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) of .431 which means he did not have luck on his side. Spring training is already showing that he has cut the number almost in half with a .255. I believe with time Warren can be a solid 3 or 4 in a starting rotation. 

The last guy I want to talk about is Ben Rice. Coming up through the ranks as a catcher and then pivoting to first base during the majors, Ben has had an interesting route. I think the Yankees saw what can happen to a young player’s confidence as he was a streaky hitter last year and got sent back down to AAA. This spring Rice has not touched first base defensively and has primarily played as catcher behind Austin Wells. Yankees reporters have also said Ben has been in the weight room this past offseason. He has been “killing the ball” a quote from manager Aaron Boone which can be seen with these stats. He’s had a slug of .552 and pairing that with his 5 home runs, he is definitely “killing” the ball. He will start the season as the DH and I think that is a good spot for him until Giancarlo Stanton comes back from the IL.

With the injuries to the pitching rotation and the departure of Juan Soto, I still believe this Yankkes team is a playoff team. The performance of the guys I highlighted will need to step up but if they do this team can easily win the American League East division.