Should The Yankees Re-Sign Luke Weaver?

The elephant in the room is that Weaver was absolutely abysmal for New York in the postseason, as he pitched to a 135.00 ERA. Yes, you read that correctly. Weaver came into 3 games, only got one singular out, and gave up five earned runs against the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.

There’s obviously a bad taste in everyone’s mouth when it comes to Weaver, as the last time they saw him, he looked like a shell of his former self. He also struggled with the home run ball throughout the season, allowing 10 home runs in 64.2 innings. This isn’t new for him, as he’s struggled with the home run ball basically of his career, especially when he was a struggling starting pitcher from 2016-2023.

Weaver also struggled in the regular season after he came back from a hamstring injury on June 20th, 2025. From then on, he pitched to a 5.31 ERA, as he gave up 23 earned runs and 8 home runs in 39 innings. Overall, he pitched to a 3.62 ERA, which went up from 2.89 in 84 innings in his breakout 2024 season at 31 years old.

There could also be some mileage concerns with Weaver, as he threw a combined 90.1 innings, including the postseason. He was also the Yankees’ closer down the stretch and pitched multiple innings a ton as well.

Weaver’s average fastball velocity also went up from 94 miles per hour in 2023 to 95.7 miles per hour in 2024 as well. Those numbers went down in 2025 as he struck out 72 batters in 64.2 innings in the regular season. His chase rate improved to 32.8%, whiff % went down to 31%, and his strikeout rate went down to 27.5%.

The problem with Weaver is his fastball, as he’s given up 10 home runs in the last two seasons in 1,285 pitches off of it. He was also only in the first percentile this season with a 27.4% ground ball percentage, easily the lowest mark of his major league career.

What Is There To Like About Weaver?

Weaver was able to reinvent himself as a Yankee as he signed with them in the second half of the 2023 season, and he made a couple of starts down the line for them. He then transitioned into a reliever in 2024 and saw his strikeout rate increase from 19.4% to 31.1%. His chase rate also rose to 31.9%, whiff rate was at 33.5%, and everything outside of his walk rate improved as well.

Starting in 2024, Weaver basically ditched his knuckle curve, sweeper, and sinker pitches. He instead relied on his other three pitches, the four-seam fastball, changeup, and cutter. The changeup is easily his best pitch as it had an absurd 48% whiff rate in 2024, and a 43.9% whiff rate in 2025.

2025 was also the season in which Weaver had the lowest expected Earned Run Average and batting average against in his entire career. He’s an absolute bulldog on the mound, he has a fiery personality, and so much energy.

The End Of My Luke Weaver Rant

All in all, as long as Weaver’s not asking for something outrageous, re-signing him wouldn’t be insane. It would have to be either a one or two-year contract, topping out at $8 million a year. This is in case anything bad happens and you don’t want him on the books for over two seasons, as he has shown to be very inconsistent in his career.

Weaver is also now 32 years old and has said this past season that he was interested in becoming a starting pitcher again, so who knows. It’s very interesting that as soon as he said that, his play started to unravel. We’ve seen this in the past with relievers wanting to become starters again, like Seth Lugo, Michael King, and former teammate Clay Holmes. It’s worked out for the most part, and obviously, that starting pitching money boost is massive.

The Yankees shouldn’t even listen to the idea of bringing back Weaver as a starting pitcher; it has to be solely as a reliever. If that were to happen, he could earn himself that set-up job once again, at worst he would be fighting for the seventh inning role. His strikeout, whiff, and chase rates are still there; he just has to fine-tune his game to limit the home runs. It’s been a problem for him his entire career, so it’s not going to be easy, but I’ve seen crazier things happen.

New York doesn’t have many trustworthy relievers outside of David Bednar, so a lot of spots are still up for grabs. They like Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz, but they can be erratic.