On the ascension of Luke Weaver, who could be Yankees' X-factor in October

One of the most important Yankees this October started his pinstriped life as, of all things, a waiver claim last September. Then the Yanks re-signed Luke Weaver over the winter as $2 million rotation depth but after tweaking his fastball grip – with a little wisdom from Gerrit Cole – and an offseason "stumble-upon" in his windup, Weaver has morphed into so much more now.

In fact, the righty reliever likely will be on the mound for some of the most crucial outs of the postseason as the Yankees try to get back to the World Series for the first time since 2009. He could find himself in the playoff cauldron as soon as Saturday, when the Yanks’ AL Division Series begins at Yankee Stadium against either the Royals or Orioles. 

While Weaver, 31, knows he "surprised the world a little bit" with the season he’s had, he’s always believed, even through his twisty career. He’s gone from being a first-round pick to a piece in a blockbuster trade to the MLB leader in losses in 2020 to stints with six different teams to, now, his first taste of postseason play. 

"I feel like this game’s hard," Weaver said. "This game comes with a lot of success and a lot of failure. In my account, the failure has definitely filled up a lot of the chapters. But it was for a good reason – it’s preparing me for this moment, to allow me to pitch in a city like this, on a team that’s as good as they are. 

"I definitely had confidence in myself, but it was long, long awaited."

Weaver, who had a 2.89 ERA in 62 games and held opponents to a .176 average during the regular season, got four saves in September after the Yankees stopped using Clay Holmes exclusively as the closer. But Weaver’s role might not be exactly defined in the playoffs, a time when managers hanker to get to their bullpens quickly and multi-inning relievers can be an enormous weapon, especially with all of the built-in postseason off days.  

Weaver, who threw the third-most relief innings in the majors (84.0), had 13 appearances of two innings or more and 31 where he got at least four outs this year. 

Asked whether Weaver would close, manager Aaron Boone replied, "We’ll see. I mean, he might be in the biggest moment in a big spot in the seventh and I can’t get him to the ninth. I would expect him to hopefully close out some games for us, but he could find himself in a different inning, if it calls for it."

It’s been, well, an interesting year for the Yankee bullpen. Overall, the Yanks' relief ERA was sixth in the Majors at 3.62, but the endgame has sometimes been a problem -- and the pen only ranked 19th in FanGraphs' version of WAR. Holmes saved 30 games, but he was also charged with 13 blown saves, the most in MLB and tied for the second-highest total in MLB history. 

Weaver is ready for anything, any role. "I want to make the record straight – I don’t view myself as the closer," he said. "I feel I’m someone who goes out there and tries to get outs. So when the (bullpen) phone rings, I’m ready to go." 

Weaver was drafted 27th overall by the Cardinals in 2014 and made his MLB debut in 2016. After the 2018 season, he was part of the package St. Louis sent to Arizona in the Paul Goldschmidt trade. In 2020, he was 1-9 for the Diamondbacks, the most losses of any pitcher in that pandemic-abbreviated season. He pitched for the Cardinals, D-Backs, Royals, Reds and Mariners before his baseball path put him in The Bronx. Entering the 2024 season, he had a career ERA of 5.14.

Where’d he get the mental grit to keep persevering? Is it learned? "Oh, it’s built in, my friend," he said. "You get kicked in the teeth enough times and you gotta get back up, right?"

Over the offseason, Weaver discovered that abbreviating his leg-kick "allowed me to be efficient" while not affecting his mid-90s fastball velocity. Cole had some ideas about the alignment on Weaver’s fastball grip and that "was a big thing that helped me gain some more hop on that, on the heater, some more swing and miss, less pitches being fouled off."

Weaver’s whiff percentage (33.5 percent) and strikeout percentage (31.1 percent) are both within the top seven percent in MLB, according to Statcast. 

"He’s definitely performed well in the biggest moments of the regular season," Boone said. "He’s a better pitcher than he’s probably ever been in his life and that’s a credit to him, for some of the adjustments he’s made and how he’s embraced going to the bullpen.

"He’s had an outstanding season and, whatever role that I put him in, he’s flourished and he likes, like a lot of our guys do, the competition. And he likes the action. 

"We’re about to get into some."