NEW YORK — Cam Schlittler was a seventh-round draft pick three years ago. He spent most of last spring in Double-A. He came into the 2026 season still nursing a back and lat issue that capped him at 68 pitches in his season debut.
None of that prevented him from making history.
Through six games of the young season, the New York Yankees are pitching at a level that has not been seen since the sport’s earliest days. Their starters have posted a combined 0.53 ERA, the best by any team through its first six games in MLB history.
The Yankees have allowed just six runs in total, the third-fewest by any franchise in its opening six games since 1900, trailing only the 1915 Philadelphia Phillies and the 2002 San Francisco Giants, who each allowed five.
Schlittler is at the center of all of it. And what he has done in two starts has no comparison anywhere in the record books.
First in Yankees history. First in all of MLB.
After his second start Wednesday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Schlittler became the first pitcher in Yankees history to begin a season with back-to-back starts of at least five scoreless innings and at least seven strikeouts. No Yankee has ever done it.
The numbers behind the milestone are just as striking. Over 11.2 innings pitched this season, Schlittler has allowed three hits and zero walks. He has struck out 15 batters. He has not allowed a single run. The only thing that has slowed him down is a pitch limit set by the Yankees as he builds back from that back issue.
In Seattle, Schlittler retired the final 15 batters he faced. He worked 6.1 innings, threw 79 pitches with 58 strikes, and struck out seven. His four-seam fastball, which topped out at 98.2 mph, produced 11 whiffs on just 18 swings, a 61 percent miss rate, per Baseball Savant. The Mariners managed two hits: a leadoff double by Brendan Donovan and a second-inning single. After that, Seattle was done.
Manager Aaron Boone did not hold back his assessment.
“It’s exciting to see how dominant his stuff is, just filling up the strike zone,” Boone said. “He set the tone for us.”
Boone also acknowledged that not even the organization could have anticipated this kind of start.
“To the level he’s done it this early,” Boone said, “I don’t know we could have predicted that.”
A Yankees lore is only getting started
Schlittler entered the national conversation last October when he struck out 12 Red Sox batters across eight scoreless innings in a winner-take-all AL Wild Card Series game at Fenway Park. It was the kind of performance that redefines a player’s standing overnight.
What he is doing now is arguably more impressive, because it is happening with the weight of expectation fully on him, against a full opening-week slate, not the adrenaline of a sudden-death playoff game.
Schlittler, 25, described his approach in Seattle with characteristic calm.
“The biggest thing is just pitching with a lead, making sure I’m taking care of what I need to do, being efficient,” he said. “Limiting the walks, hits and strikeouts is a good way to put the team in a position to win.”
He also explained how he attacked the Seattle lineup using three fastball variants.
“Felt pretty strong with the game plan that I had, just attacking those guys with those three pitches,” Schlittler said, referring to his four-seamer, two-seamer and cutter.
On the rotation’s collective dominance, he kept the message team-first.
“I think the staff’s dominant and the bullpen’s been great as well,” Schlittler said. “The team as a whole, just feeding off each other and taking it each game, each start and keep rolling with it.”
Best young Yankees arm since Severino
Observers have begun drawing comparisons to Luis Severino, who dazzled Yankees fans when he first reached the majors in 2015. The difference is that injuries and inconsistency eventually cost Severino his place in the rotation. Schlittler, a 2022 seventh-round pick who was not considered a blue-chip talent at the time, looks like he might be the organization’s next homegrown anchor.
The Yankees have a track record of developing pitchers others overlooked. Luis Gil won the American League Rookie of the Year in 2024 under the guidance of pitching coach Matt Blake and director Sam Briend. Will Warren and Clarke Schmidt have both contributed as rotation pieces in recent seasons.
Schlittler may be the best of the group so far.
Tempts Yankees to avoid roster-gutting trades
The larger implication of what he is doing connects directly to the trade market. Last offseason and into spring, chatter surfaced about the Yankees possibly pursuing a front-line starter such as Paul Skenes or Tarik Skubal. The cost of either would have been steep, almost certainly requiring a significant piece from the lineup or the prospect pool.
Schlittler vs. Skenes vs. Skubal: First 85 innings compared
How does Cam Schlittler’s early career body of work stack up against the two pitchers the Yankees were rumored to pursue via trade? Below is a side-by-side comparison across each pitcher’s first 85 innings at the MLB level. Schlittler’s tally combines his 2025 regular season, his dominant 2025 postseason Wild Card start, and his two 2026 outings to date. Skenes’ figures are drawn from his 2024 rookie campaign. Skubal’s span is confirmed by the Elias Sports Bureau as the exact stretch from Sept. 3, 2023 to May 17, 2024.
| Stat | Cam Schlittler (NYY) | Paul Skenes (PIT) | Tarik Skubal (DET) |
| Period | 2025 reg + 2025 post + 2026 | First 85 IP of MLB career (2024) | Sept 3, 2023 — May 17, 2024 |
| Innings Pitched | 85.0 IP | 85.0 IP | 85.0 IP |
| ERA | 2.54 | ~1.96 | 1.48 |
| WHIP | 1.08 | ~0.95 | ~0.82 |
| Strikeouts (K) | 99 | ~107 | 109 |
| Walks (BB) | 31 | ~21 | 12 |
| K/9 | 10.5 | ~11.3 | 11.5 |
| BB/9 | 3.3 | ~2.2 | 1.3 |
| Hits Allowed | 61 | ~59 | ~57 |
| HR Allowed | 8 | ~8 | 4 |
| Record (W-L) | 6-3 | ~8-3 | ~ 8-2 |
Note: Schlittler’s 85 IP span = 73 IP in 2025 regular season (2.96 ERA, 84 K, 31 BB, 1.22 WHIP) + 8 IP in 2025 AL Wild Card vs. Boston (0 ER, 12 K, 0 BB) + 4 IP across two 2026 starts (0 ER, 15 K, 0 BB). Skenes figures are pro-rated from his 2024 rookie season (133 IP, 1.96 ERA, 170 K, 32 BB, 0.95 WHIP). Skubal figures are from the confirmed 85.0 IP span cited by the Elias Sports Bureau (Sept. 3, 2023 to May 17, 2024: 10-0, 1.48 ERA, 109 K, 12 BB). Skenes and Skubal figures marked (~) are estimated from season-long averages.
What the numbers say
Skubal’s 85-IP stretch is the most dominant of the three by ERA and by walk rate. His 1.48 ERA and 9.1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio during that confirmed span represent an elite level of command few pitchers ever reach. Skenes sits between the two in ERA and K:BB ratio, with a slightly lower walk rate than Schlittler but a higher one than Skubal.
Schlittler trails in ERA and walk rate across his 85 innings, though it is important to note his span is split across three separate contexts including postseason pressure. His 2026 numbers, with 15 strikeouts and zero walks across 11.2 innings, are pulling his combined line in a sharply positive direction. His K total of 111 through 85 IP is actually the highest of the three pitchers in this comparison.
The trade cost for either Skenes or Skubal would require the Yankees to part with significant lineup or prospect capital. Based on Schlittler’s early-career production, the argument for keeping that capital intact and betting on their homegrown arm is growing stronger by the start.
Schlittler, alongside Max Fried, who has also posted two scoreless starts, gives the Yankees a compelling reason to stand pat. The Yankees’ starters have combined for 33.2 innings, 35 strikeouts and just two earned runs through six games. Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon are not yet in the rotation and are expected to return at some point during the 2026 season. If Schlittler holds anywhere near this level, New York may not need to surrender anything to get the ace it was rumored to be chasing.
What a pitching
Boone was asked to step back and assess what his pitching staff produced on the six-game West Coast trip that ended Wednesday.
“What a week of pitching,” the manager said. “Credit to those guys for coming up with a really good game plan and those starting pitchers going out there and executing at a really high level.”
First baseman Ben Rice, who has reached base safely in each of his first five games this season, offered a ground-level view of what Schlittler brings to a lineup’s opposition.
“He’s not afraid to throw his best stuff and come at you in the zone,” Rice said. “Clearly he is very difficult to hit.”
The Yankees went 5-1 on their road trip to open the season and return to the Bronx atop the AL East, with Schlittler as their most unexpected reason for optimism.
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