Will Warren proud of his Yankees availability after learning key lesson

Will Warren is set to make his 30th start of the season on Tuesday against the Tigers.

No one in the majors has started more games than the right-hander.

“I think that’s the goal for all of us, to be available every five days,” Warren said. “Being my first full season [in the majors], I pride myself on that. I try to do everything I can for four days to get ready for the fifth day and give us a chance to win.”

More often than not, Warren has done that.

Though there have been some clunkers along the way, Warren has flourished of late.

After allowing eight runs in Toronto on July 2, ballooning his ERA to 5.02, Warren has been mostly solid.

In 11 starts since that outing, he has a 3.18 ERA.

Some of that is good fortune, but he’s more than done his job for a pitcher who spent a second straight spring training trying to win the No. 5 starter spot.

“In the position I was in at the start of the year, I just told myself, ‘Let’s go try and make as many [starts] as I can,’ ” Warren said. “You don’t know what’s gonna happen in a season. But I looked up a week after the All-Star break and I was tied with Carlos [Rodón] and Max [Fried] in starts and said, ‘This is sick.’ ”

And one of the reasons he’s survived is an ability to shake off the rough outings, a lesson he began to learn last season and has talked about with Cam Schlittler, who had his worst outing in the majors his last time out.

“Sometimes you go out and get your butt kicked,” Warren said. “It hurts, but you take a deep breath and flush whatever happened. You have to be able to learn and move on. I told Cam, ‘That was just one time.’ I had almost an 11 ERA last year. I was getting my butt kicked left and right. But I’m never gonna lay down and die. I’m gonna keep going until I can’t any more.” 

And instead of bouncing back and forth between the Yankees and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, as Warren did a year ago, he’s able to take advantage of having been on the roster all year.

“Being around Rodón and Fried and [Gerrit] Cole every day, you can pick their minds and watch how they think and pitch,” Warren said. “Last year, I’d come up to pitch and then be gone. Now, I can talk to them in the dugout and keep learning.”