Cam Schlittler made his second appearance of the 2025 season with the Somerset Patriots, as the Yankees had Clarke Schmidt take the mound for their Double-A affiliate for his second rehab outing. Despite having to pitch in relief, he still completed five innings of work as he allowed just one run and struck out five batters. It was his second consecutive outing where he looked excellent, and the Yankees’ early rotation issues might add some extra incentive for Schlittler to shove.
The right-hander is not just competing to earn an eventual promotion to Triple-A, he could be fighting for a chance to pitch for the big-league team in their rotation. A lack of rotation depth is causing the Yankees to roster Carlos Carrasco (who isn’t good) and rely on Will Warren (who has yet to solidify himself), and that’s not mentioning a version of Marcus Stroman whose velocity has only gotten worse.
After getting some valuable work during Spring Training against some big-leaguers, Cam Schlittler has turned heads with some strong early performances in Somerset, and he could provide some valuable MLB innings in 2025.
Why Cam Schlittler Could Be a Fast Riser in the Yankees’ Organization
Through two appearances in 2025, Cam Schlittler has 10.2 innings with two runs allowed and 12 strikeouts, as he’s limited the walks and attacked in-zone aggressively. It’s resulted in a healthy dosage of in-zone whiffs, a good sign of a pitcher’s stuff and command in an outing. Getting strikeouts is more than just having a lively fastball or a big breaking ball; location plays a huge role in the probability of a specific pitch getting a whiff, and we’re seeing Schlittler attack the right spots consistently.
Batters have a 13.3% Swinging Strike% against Schlittler through two outings, and his fastball looks better than it has in previous seasons. His velocity doesn’t look like it changed much from the previous season, sitting around 93-94 MPH and topping out at 96 MPH in most outings, but the vertical ride has steadily improved as it plays a lot better at the top of the zone than before. His 113 Stuff+ during Spring Training was better than any mark from any of the Yankees’ healthy starters during camp and the regular season as well.
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His four-seamer works well at the top of the zone, but it’s more of a set-up pitch for an array of secondaries that stack up whiffs. This sweeper is a big weapon for him, it can miss so many bats regardless of handedness and we’ve seen that early on in his first two outings. Lefties have seven strikeouts with a .470 OPS and no walks, so while his profile can struggle at times with opposite-handed hitting, the stuff can play there. Here to help against lefties is a big curveball and a brand-new splitter that has some weird movement to it.
It averaged 0.5 inches of horizontal break to the arm side during Spring Training, jutting to the glove side and arm side depending on the way the ball reacts in the air. Cam Schlittler getting this pitch incorporated in his mix consistently would be a serious game-changer for him; the ability to throw an offspeed pitch that picks up soft contact and whiffs could change the way the Yankees move him through the organization. With four pitches in his repertoire, Schlittler looks more like a complete starter than he ever has, and it’s resulted in tons of whiffs.
Since being promoted to Double-A last season, Schlittler has a near 30% K% with a 3.77 ERA for the Somerset Patriots, and he’s been one of the best in the game at missing bats in-zone.
Since 2024, only three pitchers have a higher Swinging Strike Rate than Cam Schlittler, and that’s by a margin within 0.5%, making him one of the best bat-missers at that level under the qualifications listed in the graphic. That’s the key for Schlittler; he’s got stuff and command, with the upside here being a true frontline starter if he continues to take strides with the command of his repertoire.
Leaning on the upside has helped the Yankees’ offense even as they slumped through a series loss in Detroit, and with two different veterans sitting between 89-91 MPH in their rotation with no signs of life, Cam Schlittler shouldn’t be too far away from the big leagues. He’s also eligible for the Rule 5 Draft at the end of the season, so placing him on their 40-man roster wouldn’t do much in terms of accelerating his service time since they have to at the end of the year anyway.
Perhaps this stretch of strong pitching leads to a trade, but given the Yankees’ desperate need for upside in the rotation, Cam Schlittler’s looking more and more like one of the five best starters in their organization right now.