MLB's inspiring (and surprising) Ryan Weathers comp could level up Yankees' rotation

Due to the endless, swirling media coverage (and, by the way ... you're welcome), it's almost impossible for a major New York Yankees move to fly under the radar. The four-for-one Ryan Weathers trade seems to have done it, though.

Buried in the Cody Bellinger malaise and overlooked amid the rumored pursuit of Freddy Peralta (update: false alarm), the Yankees repurposed a few of the prospects who they tried to deal for Edward Cabrera to obtain Weathers instead. If everything turns out the way the Yankees envision and their stalwarts return healthy, Weathers could become a high-ceiling lefty in the bullpen by midsummer.

Of course, he could also become more than that.

MLB.com's latest attempt to project its 2026 breakout candidates (and compare them to a few recent familiar ascents) placed Weathers on the list, drawing a parallel between his new opportunity and Bryan Woo's showcase on the 2025 Seattle Mariners. The main crux of David Adler's argument is that Woo managed to blend in with, and eventually transcend, a loaded group in Seattle last summer after flying under the radar.

That's a good place to start, but matching Weathers to the full scope of Woo's rise would be absolutely ridiculous for a Yankees team that could use a shocking breakout. After all, Woo wasn't just one of many excellent Mariners; he was likely their best starter before a late-season injury (which ... yeah, we see the Weathers comp there, too).

New Yankees addition Ryan Weathers reminds MLB.com of the Seattle Mariners' Bryan Woo

Woo finished in the top five of last year's Cy Young chase, and Adler's assessment declares that Weathers is not only similarly talented (with pitch shaping comps to Garrett Crochet, Tarik Skubal and Jesús Luzardo), but that the Yankees' rotation also matches up with the Mariners' quintet on the whole. That would be very good.

Of course, Woo's eventual undoing is something Weathers is very familiar with. He popped off the page when he was able to appear on the mound in both 2024 and 2025, but he made just 24 starts between the two seasons (16 in '24, eight last year). If the Yankees can harness Weathers' stuff and keep him healthy when he's most needed, they could be sitting on an overlooked facsimile of MLB's very best.

And even if they can't manage to unlock him on a more permanent basis, MLB.com's contextualizing of the Yankees' rotation as a whole speaks to why "running it back" wasn't a fate worse than death (don't throw lemons at me), even if the Yanks could've done a whole lot more to make themselves undeniable.