Cam Schlittler’s next turn through the rotation comes with more than the usual weight for the Yankees.
When he takes the mound Tuesday night against Colorado at Yankee Stadium, the 25-year-old right-hander is pitching for New York’s place in the American League race and for a stronger grip on the Cy Young conversation. The Yankees need the win just as much as Schlittler needs the kind of outing that keeps his season looking as dominant as the numbers say it has been.
He arrives at 12-6 with a 2.04 ERA, 210 strikeouts and a 0.94 WHIP in 171 2/3 innings. That workload matters. It has also become one of the biggest reasons New York can still lean on its pitching while the offense has been uneven.
Schlittler’s Sept. 2 start in Anaheim was another reminder of why he has become the staff’s steadiest arm. He held the Angels to one run on two hits over eight innings, struck out nine and walked none, leaving after 99 pitches. New York won 6-3 in 10 innings, though Schlittler was left without a decision after a seventh-inning homer erased his lead.
That outing gave him 19 starts with no more than one earned run, a franchise record that moved him ahead of Ron Guidry, Whitey Ford and Jack Chesbro. It also underscored how much value the Yankees have gotten from a pitcher making his first full major league season look unusually durable.
The timing of Tuesday’s start got even better for Schlittler on Monday in Sacramento, when Toronto’s Dylan Cease took a hit to his own Cy Young case. Cease gave up five runs, four earned, over five innings against the Athletics, allowing four hits, walking two and striking out six on 94 pitches. His ERA jumped from 2.25 to 2.40.
Cease still came away without a loss after Toronto tied the game in the ninth, but the Athletics won 6-5 on Jeff McNeil’s walk-off infield single. Hogan Harris got the win and Louis Varland took the loss.
The rougher line came after Cease had allowed one earned run in his previous 12 innings, so it was more interruption than collapse. Even so, it nudged Schlittler ahead by 0.36 in ERA entering Tuesday.
The broader comparison is not that simple. Schlittler has thrown 10 1/3 more innings and walked 25 fewer batters.
Cease has 17 more strikeouts and a better strikeout rate. FanGraphs’ fielding-independent pitching number still leans Cease’s way, 2.46 to 2.62, reflecting the value of his strikeouts and home-run prevention.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi had already given Schlittler a slight edge on Sept. 2 before Cease’s latest start.
“As you look at it right now, it’s probably a slight edge to Cam Schlittler,” Morosi wrote.
The Yankees know the margin can move quickly. Based on Schlittler’s current totals, six scoreless innings Tuesday would drop his ERA to 1.98, while seven scoreless would bring it to 1.96. On the flip side, three earned runs in six innings would push it to 2.13, and four earned runs in five innings would raise it to 2.19.
None of that changes the reality that Colorado still has hitters who can do damage, including Hunter Goodman. The Rockies are 55-88, but this is still a major league lineup and Schlittler will have to handle it the same way he has handled most opponents: by missing bats, limiting traffic and going deep into games.
The Yankees begin the night 81-62, four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and two games ahead of Boston for the top wild-card spot. Aaron Judge is back from the injured list, which helps, but there are still 19 regular-season games left to sort out New York’s October position.
Schlittler has made it clear the award race is not his main focus.
“It’s going to be a close race,” Schlittler said.
That is the tension here. The Yankees need him to keep delivering innings, and another seven- or eight-inning start would only strengthen his award case.
At the same time, Aaron Boone and the pitching staff still have to think about the bigger picture with October in view. There is no verified indication the club has limited him to protect his Cy Young standing.
Gerrit Cole was the sixth Yankees pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in 2023, joining Bob Turley, Whitey Ford, Sparky Lyle, Guidry and Roger Clemens. Schlittler is now trying to add his name to that group while helping New York hold its ground in the playoff chase.
Cease stumbled. Schlittler gets the next shot to make that matter.
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