A Conversation with Adam Warren

Adam Warren is quietly emerging as a reliable member of the Yankees’ rotation. The 27-year-old right-hander hasn’t been spectacular, but he’s pitched well enough for his team to have won four of his five starts. He was credited with two of those wins, and allowed just one earned run in his lone loss.

Warren worked out of the New York bullpen in 2013 and 2014, but his resume is that of a successful starter. He went 32-4 in four seasons at the University of North Carolina, and his ERA in 90 minor-league starts was 3.11. A fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft, Warren mixes and matches two- and four-seam fastballs, a slider, a curveball, and a change-up.

Warren, who will make his sixth start of the season tonight, talked about his evolution as a pitcher, and his approach on the mound, earlier this week.

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Warren on his development: “I’ve had the same pitches since I signed, but I’ve tightened them up. My change-up has gotten a lot better, and my slider has gotten a lot better. I have more feel with every pitch, and I can throw any pitch in any count. One of my strengths is that unpredictability of being able to throw any of them at any time. I’ve just gotten a little sharper. My mechanics, for the most part, have stayed the same. It’s just learning how to maybe tweak a grip, or getting more out in front with a pitch – just getting a feel for things. I’ve had a lot of good coaches help me with that.”

On his change-up and his slider: “My change-up has changed. The way I hold it is the same, it’s just the pressure on the seams, more with my thumb than anything else. It’s a two-seam. It’s the same grip, I’ve just changing the pressure on it a little bit.

“I changed grips on my slider when I was in Triple-A. I’m still working on what kind of angle I want my wrist at, at release, to get more depth to it. I think I was more of a cutter earlier on in my career. Now I’m trying to get more of a slider depth to it.

“My fastball cuts every now and then, and that could be what (PITCH/f/x) reads as a cutter. Sometimes my slider is shorter when I’m not quite getting through the ball — it’s harder and shorter, which at times is effective. But really, I’m looking for the slider that has more depth to it.”

On throwing more two-seam fastballs this year: “Out of the bullpen, it was more about power fastball, riding the four-seamer more. Now I’m trying to use both a four-seam and a two-seam to give different looks to hitters, because I’m seeing them more than once. My two is more run than sink. Sometimes when it’s really good I can get a lot of sink out of it, but I think it’s more of a run two-seam than a sinker.

“I think my two-seam has improved from last year to this year. I really didn’t change a whole lot with it, so I don’t know why it would get better other than just throwing it more. Last year we kind of just did away with it except for a few times when we maybe wanted to run it in on righties, but to lefties we didn’t use it much at all.”

On his curveball: “I’ve always seen my curveball as more of a get-me-over pitch. It’s nice when it’s good and I can use it as more of a bury pitch, a strike-out pitch. I’ve got some strike-outs on it over the last couple years, but I consider it my fourth pitch. It’s one of those things I kind of have to read, because it’s probably also my most inconsistent pitch. When it’s good, I love to use it more and throw it for strikes. Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting that arm slot. That’s what I’m always working on: trying to get that right release point and arm slot.”

On working out of the bullpen last year: “It was kind of strange, because I’d never really pitched in a one-inning role like I did last year. My first year in the bullpen I was a long man, so I was going three or four innings at a time – still kind of like starting– but last year I wasn’t really sure, ‘Do I go to two pitches or do I keep all of my pitches?’

“I found out early on that the more pitches you can throw for strikes, the harder it is on the hitter. They can’t just eliminate – ‘OK, I’m not going to swing at the slider’ – and wait for a fastball. Now you’ve got to worry about four pitches that may be coming your way. I think it really helped me succeed in that role because most relievers have two, maybe three pitches, and I had four, maybe five on a given night. It’s just tougher on the hitters, because they have so many more things to be ready for.”

On sequencing and being in sync with his catcher: “Because I like throwing any pitch at any time, the best thing for me is a catcher who understands ‘OK maybe the change-up isn’t as good today, let’s stay away from that,’ or maybe ‘The curveball is good today.’ Especially out of the bullpen, you don’t need all your pitches. I thought Brian McCann did a good job last year. He’d call something and it didn’t look good, or something didn’t look good in warmups, and he’d eliminate that pitch that day. Somebody who can do that on the fly and decide ‘We’ll just stick with these three pitches’ really helped me.

“I don’t shake a ton, only when I feel really strongly about a pitch. I trust the work that the catchers have done. They see these hitters a lot more than I do. One of the cooler things about Brian McCann is that he likes to come in and explain why he worked a certain sequence. I’m still learning. I’m only a couple years pitching in the big leagues, and I’m still learning how to work pitch sequences. They’re smart hitters, so having someone like that explain why he called something — ‘This is why I did this pitch after this pitch” – is a neat learning experience. You always want to be able to think through the game with your catcher, and to understand his reasoning.”

On conviction and confidence: “I think the biggest thing for me mentally is pitching with conviction. Trusting my stuff. When I do that, I get ahead in the count, and everybody knows when you get ahead in the count you’re much more successful. Having that conviction, having that trust in your ability, and going out there and not thinking about mechanics or anything like that, but just worrying about executing one pitch at a time. When I do that, I’m usually at my best.

“Baseball is amazing, and everyone says its a game of failures. You can go from believing you can get everybody out to having one bad outing and all of a sudden you don’t know if you can get anybody out. I think the biggest thing is having a support group, whether it be family or coaches or teammates – just somebody who’s always there to kind of pick you back up. It’s tough when you take a shot to your confidence. You go back to past success sometimes. You remind yourself, ‘Hey, this is how good I am, and I can get these guys out.’

On mound visits from his catcher: “It depends on the situation. There are times where I just want him to give me a breather, and there are other times where I want somebody to go out there and fire me up and get me going. I have a calm demeanor on the mound, so most of the time it’s just to remind me to stay back, or something simple about the game plan to kind of get back on track. Usually, it’s more calm, but I welcome a kick in the pants as well. Sometimes you need that.”





David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.

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Keith
8 years ago

Great read!