You'd be forgiven if you'd never heard of Cam Schlittler before Thursday night. A lot of Yankees fans had not heard of Schlittler before he made his major-league debut in July. Not considered one of the organization's top prospects, and until surprisingly recently just another warm body in the system, the tall 24-year-old righty with the cannon arm immediately emerged as one of the Yankees' most dependable starters down the stretch, and so became the clear if still risky choice to start a winner-take-all Game 3 against the Red Sox. He's got stuff, but all the stuff in the world doesn't say a thing about nerves, and plenty of talented rookies have cracked under hot October lights on cool October nights. How'd he do? Well, you've heard of Cam Schlittler now.
Schlittler put up one of the all-time great rookie playoff performances—hell, one of the all-time dominant postseason starts, full stop. He threw eight shutout innings, his lively fastball flat-footing hitters to the tune of 12 strikeouts, against zero walks, as New York beat Boston, 4-0, to advance to the ALDS.
"People from Boston had a lot to say before the game," said the Walpole, Mass., native, who had some things of his own to say back afterward. "You know Boston fans. It’s just how it is. We’re aggressive back home and we’re gonna try and get under people's skin. They just picked the wrong guy to do it to."
Game 3 was a battle of babies, as the Red Sox were forced to start 23-year-old Connelly Early. Early was good, uh, early, matching Schlittler K for K through three. But a four-run Yankee rally ended his night, while Schlittler's was just getting started:
There wasn't much subtlety to his pitch selection, relying overwhelmingly on a four-seamer that averaged 99 mph, and a sinker. Not a ton of movement, but impeccable command; Schlittler threw them for strikes when he wanted, and wasn't afraid to throw outside the zone. To keep batters honest, he sprinkled in a cut fastball for a little more movement the other way. Just 11 times over his 107 pitches, he went off-speed; he threw exactly as many balls over 100 mph. It was a classic "here it is, hit it if you can" performance from a confident young guy who only seemed to be getting stronger as the night wore on. There's not a professional hitter on Earth who can do much with a 101 mph sinker at the knees.
"There are different paths to greatness," said injured Yankees starter Gerrit Cole. "He’s got it. I don’t know exactly what it is, it’s hard to define it. But he’s got it."
No one could have seen this coming even just two years ago. Schlittler, a seventh-round pick out of Northeastern University in 2022, was the opposite of a lot of speculative pitching "projects": He didn't have the arm yet. But you can teach velo, and the Yankees thought his 6-foot-6 frame and smooth delivery could handle the extra 20 pounds of muscle he's put on since then. In High-A in 2023, Schlittler's fastball averaged just 90 mph and topped out at 92 mph. A year later in Triple-A, he was throwing 94. This season he got up to 98, topping out in triple figures.
Add to that a gradually improving command and you've got yourself potential ace stuff. But this? This was something special. This was, somehow, Schlittler's first time hitting double-digit strikeouts in his career, at any professional level.
It puts him in some pretty rarified air among young pitchers who starred in the postseason. The broadcast mentioned Josh Beckett; the comps include Noah Syndergaard, Jake Arrieta, Dave Righetti, Jim Palmer, Don Newcombe, Smoky Joe Wood. My favorite might be that Schlittler has the most strikeouts by a rookie in a postseason start since Livan Hernandez's famous—some might say infamous—15-K 1997 NLCS.
Some incredibly talented names on those lists—but also some guys who never quite matched those heights again. That uncertainty over the path a career can take is what makes a dazzling debut like Schlittler's so special, and so intriguing. Maybe it will be remembered as a coming-out, the national announcement of what proves to be a long and successful career. Or maybe it will be a shooting star that flares brilliantly but briefly. Neither outcome would take away from the night itself. Lightning in a bottle flashes just as bright.
