Cam Schlittler opened Game 1 of the ALWCS against the Boston Red Sox by firing a 101 mile per hour fastball. It was three miles per hour faster than his average four-seam velocity during the regular season, a clear sign that the New York Yankees ace was extra fired up to face the team that has become his personal nemesis.
Schlittler dominates the Red Sox, and in many ways his 2025 coming out party was his evisceration of Boston during that year’s ALWCS. A year ago, the righty rode his trio of blazing fastballs to an eight-inning, 12 strikeout performance that sent the Red Sox packing. He had been plenty impressive before, but that was the clear sign that he was special.
While Schlittler had experimented with other pitches during his 2025 debut, by the end of the season, it was clear that anything other than his four-seamer, his cutter, and his sinker was nothing more than a show-me pitch.
That continued into 2026, but early on, we noticed something. We saw that while it might still be a secondary offering, his curveball was becoming a weapon.
Fast forward to this year’s dismantling of the Red Sox, and that bender was a key player. The 25-year-old threw his breaking ball a whopping 32 times, more than his sinker and cutter combined. It was devilishly effective, too, generating a 50% whiff rate while landing six in the zone for called strikes.
Cam Schlittler, 99mph Fastball and 85mph Curveball, Overlay pic.twitter.com/e6iQ2U3XD2
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 30, 2026
Maybe Schlittler used it so often against Boston because Red Sox content creator/troll Jared Carrabis questioned the validity of his curve. After all, Schlittler never misses an opportunity to stick it to Red Sox podcasters. However, there’s likely more at play here.
Yankees ace Cam Schlittler might be leveling up if Red Sox curveball dominance sticks
It’s hard to say that there’s really another gear for Schlittler to reach. After posting a 1.95 ERA, striking out 31.4% of batters faced, recording a 6.4%, walk rate, and throwing 193 2/3 innings during his first full big league season, he’s already the presumptive Cy Young favorite, while also compiling a pretty solid MVP case.
Cam Schlittler on the MVP chants:
“We’ve already got an MVP in this locker room. He’s won three of them. If he were in there this whole season he’d probably have it… I wouldn’t say I am an MVP, but it’s good to embrace that from the fans.” pic.twitter.com/dChgC853Ax
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 30, 2026
But connecting the dots, the breaking ball outburst wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment decision, nor was it matchup-dependent. It seems as if it’s something that Schlittler has been working on all season.
Joe Girardi noted during the broadcast that Cam slowly increased his breaking ball usage throughout the year, throwing the pitch 7% of the time in the first half and upping the frequency to 14% in the second half. We saw how dominant it could look early on, but it wasn’t consistent.
Throwing it 27% of the time was still a leap, but it was something that had been building rather than just a random event. The fact that he got so many whiffs and could also land it in the zone and freeze hitters for strikes proves that it’s more than just a change of pace.
He clearly has confidence in the offering as well. At one point, he threw three straight to Adley Rutschman. That’s a plan, not just a one-off.
Schlittler’s fastball-heavy approach has worked because he has elite velocity, but also because the trio of heaters features different movement and targets different parts of the zone. However, the lack of variation in velocity makes him vulnerable to prolonged at-bats via foul balls because hitters are able to time the pitches. Making the curveball something more than an afterthought changes that and could make him more efficient, thus allowing him to pitch deeper into games more often.
“It’s very well known that if you want to be a legend, which is obviously the goal, you’ve got to do it in the postseason. Go out there and have dominant starts and put the team in the position to win,” Schlittler said after the game.
It’s clear that greatness is important to Schlittler and that he’s working on his craft all the time. He doesn’t appear satisfied to rest on his laurels and will keep pushing himself forward. That means this devastating curveball is probably for real and will become a larger part of his arsenal moving forward. It also puts the rest of the league on notice. This monster is only going to get scarier as time goes on.
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