NEW YORK — Cam Schlittler stands in the Yankees clubhouse and reflects on a journey that has unfolded faster than he imagined.
When the 24-year-old was in Double-A with the Somerset Patriots in May, he was tinkering with his pitch types and harnessing his command against minor league hitters. He wasn’t expecting to be called up to the major leagues in July. But his rapid development, combined with injuries to the Yankees’ pitching staff, accelerated the timeline.
Fast forward to late September, and Schlittler has so quickly adjusted to the bright lights of the Bronx that he’s in contention to be the Yankees’ third starting pitcher when the MLB postseason begins next week.
“Obviously I can’t control that, but if I get that opportunity, I’m gonna definitely take advantage of it and go do what I do usually every five, six days,” Schlittler told The Trentonian this week. “I embrace that kind of stuff. I think I handle the pressure well and everything that comes with being in New York, so it’ll be a real test in October, and hopefully I get that chance.”
Schlittler has been one of the Yankees’ most dependable arms since debuting on July 9. He has permitted two runs or fewer in nine of his 13 starts. Overall, he has a 3.27 ERA with 75 strikeouts — fifth-most in franchise history through 13 starts.
He has also flashed one of the league’s most electrifying four-seam fastballs with the fifth-highest average velocity (98 mph) and the fourth-lowest opponent slugging percentage against that pitch (.289) among starting pitchers, according to Baseball Savant.
“His poise has been really great, his stuff is great, so it’s been impressive to watch so far. I’ve enjoyed catching him and watching him grow,” Yankees first baseman/catcher Ben Rice said. “When a guy has that legit of stuff, you can just be aggressive in the strike zone. That’s what he’s been doing, and I think it’s helped him be successful so far.”
Schlittler was so dominant at the start of the season in Somerset — he posted a 2.38 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 53 innings — that the Yankees bumped him up to Triple-A on June 3.
He has always been confident in his arsenal, which features a cutter, a curveball, a sinker and a sweeper to go with his four-seamer. But after graduating Double-A, he needed to learn more about how to read hitters and exploit their weaknesses.
“It’s good competition there (in Somerset), but when you start moving up, you realize it’s not as good as you think,” Schlittler said. “I’m just kind of being confident in myself and making sure I’m using the resources that are given to me. At the end of the day, you’ve got to go there and do it yourself. No one’s gonna be able to do it for you.”
Five starts in Triple-A were all the Yankees needed to see before giving their 2022 seventh-round pick from Northeastern a spot in their rotation.
New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Something curious happened when Schlittler debuted against the Mariners at Yankee Stadium: He started routinely throwing fastballs 98 mph and up — a significant spike after averaging around 95 mph in Double-A.
Schlittler notes it was a similar velocity jump to what he experienced last summer. After bulking up 15 pounds in the offseason to 225, he feels that losing a few pounds during the season helped him round into midseason form. Pitching in front of exponentially more fans has amped him up as well.
“I think it just helped me with understanding my body and my mechanics,” Schlittler said of losing a few pounds. “I think it just made me have a better feel and routine with it, so I was able to see a little bit of a jump.”
Thinking back more on his time with the Patriots, Schlittler believes he probably wouldn’t be in the majors right now if he hadn’t learned a cutter in late April. He needed another successful offering to lefties — preferably something to attack them inside — and it’s become his second-most used pitch in the majors (20.2 percent).
He was promoted to the Yankees with four pitch types but now has five because he added a sinker in late July. He mostly uses it to go in on righties (in contrast to his cutter) but began mixing it in more against lefties last Sunday at Baltimore.
It was an easy grip for him to learn from the Yankees, despite naturally being a supinator, because he describes it as being “not a crazy sinker where it gets depth or an insane amount of run.” It has just enough run to throw hitters off and be another chess piece.
“It’s a good offering just to mess with their timing or where they’re looking at,” Schlittler said. “I’ve seen really good results with it.”
He seldom deploys his sweeper now — only 30 times in the majors so far — likely in part because it generates the least miss (11.8 percent). He believes that it’s still a good pitch for him, but he hasn’t needed to use it with the success of his other four pitches.
In his last outing, Schlittler focused on his fastball command and attacked hitters up in the zone after walking a career-high five batters in his previous start. All six of his strikeouts last Sunday were 98 or 99 mph fastballs near the top of the zone.
The Yankees worked on adjusting his fastball delivery for better control.
“I was just kind of opening up a little bit, arm was kind of dragging, arm slot was a little bit down to the side more on the fastball,” Schlittler said. “I was able to finish the off-speed really well, but the fastball I was just kind of a little bit behind on, so I really emphasized staying on top of the ball on Sunday. It’s a little bit uncomfortable, but I was better at getting the fastball in the zone. It’s still a work in progress, but kind of making sure I’m staying on top of the ball, finishing through the catcher’s helmet, is kind of where I’m at with that.”
Schlittler is scheduled to make his final regular-season start Saturday at home against the Orioles. That lines him up to pitch in a potential Game 3 of the Wild Card Series in the playoffs on regular rest.
He feels ready for that challenge if called upon by manager Aaron Boone.
“Kind of the way I look at it is that I deserve to be here,” Schlittler said. “At the end of the day, it’s my job. I’m just doing what’s expected of me, so I show up every day and get my work in.”