NEW YORK — A year ago, almost no one outside the Bronx knew his name. Cam Schlittler was a college arm with average velocity. Now he is the talk of baseball and the pride of the Yankees.
The young right-hander has become the engine of the Yankees rotation. The Yankees ace throws gas. He misses bats. He rarely walks anyone. Hitters keep walking back to the dugout shaking their heads.
His rise has drawn praise from every corner of the Yankees world. Then one voice cut through the noise.
That voice belonged to a man who knows the Yankees bullpen well. He spent years getting big outs in the Bronx. His resume gives his words real weight.
Schlittler’s numbers fuel the breakout
The Yankees star’s numbers explain the buzz. Over his first 11 starts, he worked 66 innings. He posted a 1.50 ERA in that span. He piled up 75 strikeouts along the way.
That ERA leads all qualified pitchers in the majors. It is not a fluke of a small sample, either. Schlittler has thrown the most innings in the sport this year.
The strikeout numbers stand out, too. He fans more than 10 hitters per nine innings. He walks just 1.8 per nine. That blend is rare and dangerous for a Yankees starter.
His value metrics tell the same story for the Yankees. Schlittler leads MLB pitchers in fWAR at 2.7. He also tops the majors in both FIP and ERA. Few arms can match that combination.
What makes the Yankees right-hander strange is his approach. Schlittler leans on his fastballs more than 90 percent of the time. He throws a four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter. Each one moves in a different direction.
Hitters know the heat is coming. They still cannot square it up. The pitches look alike out of his hand, then dart apart late.
Betances compares the ace to a legend
Here is the moment that lit a fresh fire under the hype. Dellin Betances, a four-time All-Star with the Yankees, broke down the young Yankees ace on the radio. His comparison stopped fans in their tracks.
Betances appeared on WFAN to discuss the young ace. He praised the heavy fastball usage first. Then he reached for two of the biggest names in the game.
“Well, he’s throwing like 91% fastball, which is unheard of,” Betances said. “Some guys I’ve talked to who have faced him, they’ve said he has the Lance Lynn pitch-mix. But what’s different is they said he has Jacob deGrom’s command.”
That deGrom comparison carries enormous weight. deGrom is a future Hall of Famer and a former Mets legend. Linking a 25-year-old to his command is bold.
Betances explained why the approach works so well. Hitters sit on the fastball and still guess wrong. The movement does the rest.
“As a hitter, you’re expecting a fastball,” Betances said. “He’s only throwing fastballs. But you don’t know which way it’s going. That’s what he’s done exceptionally well.”
Then came the line that grabbed headlines. Betances did not hedge. He put Schlittler at the very top of the award race.
“The poise he has, he LOVES the atmosphere,” Betances said. “This guy’s electric. He’s been doing it all year. For me, he’s the Cy Young leader right now.”
The endorsement matters because of who said it. Betances was a force in the Yankees bullpen for years. He earned four All-Star nods. He posted multiple sub-2.00 ERA seasons.
A man with that track record does not hand out praise lightly. So the deGrom comparison landed hard. It gave the Schlittler hype a stamp of credibility.
Cy Young buzz follows the praise
The buzz around Schlittler is not limited to one voice. Betting markets have noticed his dominance. He is now favored for the American League Cy Young Award.
Recent odds placed Schlittler ahead of the pack at +130. Dylan Cease sat behind him, with Jacob deGrom further back. The injuries to other contenders have only boosted his case.
His own teammate complicates the picture in a fun way. Max Fried also drew Cy Young buzz before his elbow injury. Yankees fans briefly enjoyed a two-horse race within their own rotation. Both arms gave the Yankees hope.
The praise has spread across the sport, too. Analysts call him one of the best young starters in baseball. Some rank him near the top regardless of age.
Schlittler even drew a wild prediction earlier this month. Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer named him a no-hitter candidate for May. He grouped the Yankees ace with Paul Skenes and Tyler Glasnow.
That company says plenty about his ceiling. Skenes is the reigning National League ace. Glasnow brings overpowering stuff. Schlittler now belongs in that tier.
Workload looms as the lone question
He has backed up the Yankees hype on the mound. In his Subway Series debut, he carried a one-hit shutout into the seventh. The Yankees beat the Mets 5-2 at Citi Field.
His platoon splits show no weakness. Left-handed hitters bat just .211 against him. Right-handed hitters fare even worse at .146. He attacks both sides with confidence.
The Cy Young path still has one hurdle. Schlittler must prove he can handle a full workload. He has never thrown more than 170 innings in a season.
Volume matters in award voting. Only one pitcher since 2020 has won a Cy Young with fewer than 170 innings. Schlittler will need to push past his career high.
For now, the Yankees will gladly ride the wave with their young ace. The Yankees rotation looks dangerous with Gerrit Cole back. It could turn elite once Fried returns.
Schlittler sits at the center of it all. A four-time All-Star compared him to a legend. The numbers keep proving the praise right.
What do you think? What are his chances to win Cy Young award this seasson?
