NEW YORK - Cam Schlittler keeps making the conversation louder, and the awards race bigger.
After six scoreless innings in the Yankees’ 2-0 win over the Mets on Sunday, the rookie right-hander didn’t just strengthen his case for the American League Cy Young Award. He forced his way into a far more unusual debate: MVP.
Mets interim manager Andy Green put Schlittler in rare company, saying, “Right about now,” Green said, “he’s right up there with (Jacob) Misiorowski as the best in the game.”
The Cy Young case feels close to settled. Schlittler should be the seventh Yankees pitcher to win it, joining Gerrit Cole (2023), Roger Clemens (2001), Ron Guidry (1978), Sparky Lyle (1977), Whitey Ford (1961) and Bob Turley (1958).
But the MVP angle is what makes this season feel different. If Schlittler keeps rolling through his likely two remaining starts, he could become the first Yankees pitcher to win MVP since Spud Chandler in 1943.
Cody Bellinger, who won the NL MVP in 2019, said Schlittler carries himself like the sport’s elite.
“Every time he’s on the mound, it’s a confidence that you have with many of the greats that I’ve played with in the past, whether it was (Clayton) Kershaw or Gerrit,” said Cody Bellinger, the 2019 National League MVP. “He just has that same type of presence.”
The numbers back up the buzz. Schlittler is in the MVP mix with Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., and the argument starts with WAR.
Witt holds a narrow edge in FanGraphs’ version at 6.5, with Schlittler at 6 and Alvarez at 5.8. Baseball Reference has Schlittler on top among AL players at 6.6, followed by Witt at 6.3 and Alvarez at 5.8.
Each candidate brings a different case. Witt may be the league’s most complete player, but voters could knock him because the Royals are struggling.
Alvarez is crushing the ball - his 175 wRC+ is 21 points better than Pete Crow-Armstrong’s, the current NL MVP favorite - and he’s helped keep the Astros in the AL West race. Still, he’s a designated hitter, and history is not on his side there.
The only DH ever to win MVP is Shohei Ohtani, and he also pitched in three of the four seasons he won it.
Schlittler’s value is built on dominance. He leads the AL in innings pitched, ERA, WHIP and scoreless starts. He ranks second in strikeouts, batting average against, strikeout-to-walk ratio and quality starts.
The comparison to Clayton Kershaw is hard to ignore. Kershaw was the last pitcher to win MVP, doing it in 2014 with the Dodgers, and he finished with a 197 ERA+. Schlittler entered Sunday with a 209 ERA+.
Aaron Judge, a three-time MVP himself, isn’t sold on a pitcher taking the trophy. Still, he had no trouble putting Schlittler in the Cy Young lane.
“He’s definitely pitching like an MVP,” Judge said. “They’ve got a Cy Young Award for a reason - best pitcher in the game. He’s got my vote, definitely, for the Cy Young.”
Even if the MVP talk never goes any further, Schlittler is already piling up one of the most dominant pitching seasons in Yankees history. Since earned runs became an official stat, only two other starters have finished a season with at least 30 starts and an ERA under 2.00: Guidry in 1978 and Chandler in 1943.
His 21 starts with one run or fewer allowed are a franchise record, and only three other AL pitchers in the last 110 years have done that in a season: Dean Chance in 1964, Blake Snell in 2018 and Dylan Cease in 2022.
His 209 ERA+ is also the best in Yankees history right now, just ahead of Guidry’s 208, long viewed as the standard for a modern Yankees starter.
And there may still be another level in there. Schlittler has done this almost entirely with fastballs, or versions of them.
That alone has made him nearly impossible to solve. Add an off-speed pitch to the mix, and the rest of the league could be in real trouble.
For all the award chatter, Schlittler keeps circling back to the same thing. He says his only goal is helping the Yankees win a championship. After Saturday’s 12-2 loss to the Mets, he had a simple mission for Sunday.
“It was a little frustrating yesterday hearing all of the Mets chants,” Schlittler said. “I wanted to make sure I came in here and shut that down.”
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