CHICAGO — Just a year ago, Cam Schlittler was pitching for High-A Hudson Valley and not on the minds of many New York Yankees fans. Internally, he was already on pitching coach Matt Blake’s radar as someone who could rise quickly through the team’s system.

The Yankees invited Schlittler to spring training this year so they could monitor his progress up close, and even though he had a 4.41 ERA in four starts, Blake thought he could make his big-league debut in 2025. The only thing in Schlittler’s way was being buried on the depth chart. It took injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt and Ryan Yarbrough for Schlittler to start climbing the Yankees’ depth chart. Marcus Stroman and Carlos Carrasco were designated for assignment. Allan Winans was next in line, but his stuff isn’t good enough to consistently get out major league hitters. Chase Hampton likely would have been higher on the Yankees’ depth chart, but the top prospect underwent Tommy John surgery in the spring.

All of that led to the 24-year-old now being a possibility for the Yankees in October. Schlittler turned in a quality start against the Chicago White Sox Saturday night, pitching six innings, striking out eight batters and allowing one run in the Yankees’ 5-3 11th inning win. Schlittler’s ERA is now 2.61 on the season. He’s now one of four in franchise history to have at least 50 strikeouts and a sub-3.00 ERA in his first nine career games, joining Dave Righetti, Orlando Hernandez and Masahiro Tanaka.

Schlittler’s dominance is already giving the organization confidence that he could start in the postseason.

“He has a pretty steady character,” Blake said. “I think the moment is not too big for him. He knows that he can pitch in the strike zone, which is a big part of it. I think that part of the game is important. When you get to the postseason, you’re probably facing teams that control the zone a little bit better, so you’re not going to get as much reckless chase in those lineups. I think the fact that he can throw his fastball in the zone, and he does at a high rate, would give you a chance in the postseason.”

Cam came through with 8 Ks 👊#RepBX pic.twitter.com/O7tjasHOky

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 31, 2025

The fact that he possibly starting in October is even being considered is a testament to the organization’s player development program. Schlittler, who was drafted in the seventh round out of Northeastern University in 2022, was throwing in the low-90s just two years ago in his first professional games. Now he’s able to throw over 100 mph and has some of the best stuff in all of baseball. Among all MLB starters who’ve thrown at least 40 innings this season, Schlittler entered his start on Saturday third behind Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene and Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski in Stuff+, a metric that measures the physical characteristics of all pitches. He’s 10th in Pitching+, which measures a pitcher’s physical characteristics, location and count of each pitch to try to judge the overall quality of the pitcher’s process.

“He’s a beast,” catcher Austin Wells said. “He just goes out there and it doesn’t matter who’s at the plate. I feel like for him, he’s gonna go out there and throw his pitches and give us outs. I think that he has three or four really good pitches that, as we’ve seen, he’s thrown in every single outing so far.”

The Yankees initially thought Schlittler had the chance to be a spot starter down the stretch when the season began. They envisioned him in a similar capacity to what Will Warren was for them last year. Blake said Schlittler “probably ended up here quicker than I anticipated.”

But Schlittler is likely here to stay for the rest of the season and beyond. His 1.60 ERA in August is the lowest ERA by a Yankee starter with a minimum of at least five starts since Ron Guidry in 1978. He has all of the makings of a frontline starter in the years to come, especially as he continues refining his command and secondary pitches, which his curveball and cutter already grade out as above average.

“With each start, I’m definitely feeling more comfortable,” Schlittler said. “I’m not trying to get too comfortable, but just kind of understand that I go out there and be confident in myself and do what I need to do for hopefully six innings.”

If he continues doing that in September, the Yankees will have no choice but to give the rookie the ball in the postseason.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)