When Clarke Schmidt when down with a torn UCL, it spelled the potential end for the Yankees’ World Series hopes, effectively limiting the team to a two-horse rotation.
The starting pitching market was very limited at the trade deadline, with the most notable starter traded being Merrill Kelly, who has posted a 4.23 ERA and 4.19 FIP.
Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara stayed put, placing a ton of pressure on the organization to have an internal solution to their rotation issues.
Cam Schlittler, who began the season in Double-A, had rocketed up prospect boards after experiencing a massive velocity jump and would be called upon to become the team’s fifth starter.
His late-season surge has propelled the Yankees to being tied for the best record in the American League, and its established Schlittler as a core part of this roster moving forward.
READ MORE: Yankees breathe a sigh of relief after star infielder suffers injury scare
Cam Schlittler’s Brilliance Has Changed the Yankees’ 2025 Season
Rookie pitchers have a 4.61 ERA and 4.49 FIP this year, and Cam Schlittler outperformed both marks by a significant margin, displaying an elite repertoire that only got better as the year went on.
He finishes his regular season with a 2.96 ERA and a 3.74 FIP, which are both firmly above-average not just for a rookie, but for any MLB starter.
Schlittler has evolved a lot with the organization, but he’s also evolved a ton at the Major League level, adding new weapons to optimize his pitxh mix.
The first pitch we saw him add was a two-seamer, a pitch that has held batters to a .294 SLG% and 23.8% Whiff%, both of which are firmly above-average.
It has the most arm-side movement in his repertoire, playing an important role in mixing up looks and keeping hitters off-balance.
Yesterday, we saw a new weapon get added with a slider that was grouped in with his cutter but had dramatically different movement.
Cam Schlittler’s cutter sits in the mid-90s with good vertical movement, but the pitch in the green grouping has more sweep and drop at 90.2 MPH.
It is a truly elite shape given the combination of velocity and movement, and it replaces his sweeper as a pitch that can move away from righties to get swings and misses.
With his four-seamer, curveball, and cutter being already-existing pitches that he has a strong feel for, the Yankees have a pitcher who could have both a deep repertoire and overpowering stuff.
Over his last nine starts, Cam Schlittler has a 2.23 ERA and 2.62 FIP, which both rank inside the top five for qualified pithcers during that stretch.
The team has gone 7-2 in those games, with an overall record of 29-12 to help them get right back in the American League East race.
It comes down to today for both the Blue Jays and Yankees, but the team almost certainly wouldn’t have been in this situation if either Carlos Carrasco or Marcus Stroman took the mound in those games.
The Yankees cannot control their destiny; a Blue Jays win will send them to the Wild Card, and in all likelihood, the team will have to play for its playoff survival in a best-of-three series while facing either Garrett Crochet or Tarik Skubal.
Without tiebreakers against the Tigers and Guardians, the Yankees needed to win 89 games to guarantee a playoff spot heading into Sunday.
Currently at 93 wins, you could reasonably argue that the team could have ended up with 88-89 wins with a lesser pitcher taking the ball or with Schlittler having more typical rookie struggles.
New York will head to the postseason, and that’s due in-part because of Cam Schlittler’s immediate emergence as dependable starter.
More about: New York Yankees
