{"id":674881,"date":"2026-05-16T14:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674881\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T14:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:43:08","slug":"with-max-fried-down-the-yankees-have-another-ace-in-cam-schlittler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/674881\/","title":{"rendered":"With Max Fried down, the Yankees have another ace in Cam Schlittler"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 For any club, losing a $218 million starting pitcher would be debilitating for its chances to stay afloat in the standings. Not the 2026 New York Yankees.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because they have a burgeoning ace in 25-year-old Cam Schlittler. Before New York Mets left fielder Juan Soto hit a solo home run in the seventh inning of Friday night\u2019s 5-2 Yankees win, Schlittler flirted with franchise history. Had he gotten out of that inning unscathed, Schlittler would have cemented himself as the Yankees starter with the lowest ERA through his first 10 starts of a season, surpassing the mark established by Phil Niekro, who recorded a 1.20 ERA in 1984.<\/p>\n

Instead, Schlittler will have to settle for a 1.35 ERA, the best mark among MLB starters. His 68 strikeouts rank third in MLB; his 0.78 WHIP ranks second; and his .168 batting average against ranks third. It\u2019s been pure mastery from Schlittler on the mound.<\/p>\n

\u201cCam is sick,\u201d Yankees<\/a> second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a> said. \u201cHe goes out there and dominates every game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees received concerning news before Friday\u2019s Subway Series matchup, as they placed Max Fried on the 15-day injured list<\/a> with a left elbow bone bruise. The club does not know when Fried will return, but the lefty said surgery is not being considered. With Fried out indefinitely, the Yankees will need Schlittler to continue pitching like one of the best in the sport.<\/p>\n

That does not seem to be a big ask, even though Schlittler made his MLB debut just 10 months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is pitching like an ace,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cI don\u2019t think Cam\u2019s affected by much. He expects to dominate and pitch well, (having) Max or not. I don\u2019t think it affects what Cam\u2019s got to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schlittler said he didn\u2019t think he had his \u201cA-plus\u201d stuff Friday, and yet he held the Mets to two hits, two walks and one run while striking out nine batters across 6 2\/3 innings. The professor must not have drunk his coffee before grading Schlittler\u2019s outing.<\/p>\n

The righty has continued to establish himself by being one of MLB\u2019s most unusual starters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Schlittler came into his start against the Mets throwing fastballs 90.3 percent of the time, which is the highest percentage among starters; Milwaukee\u2019s Chad Patrick is the next highest at 84.5 percent. On Friday, Schlittler threw fastballs 93 percent of the time. What makes Schlittler so difficult to hit is the overwhelming velocity and movement he possesses with his four-seamer, two-seamer and cutter. The Mets whiffed on 38 percent of their swings against Schlittler.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have 100 mph rising, you have 100 mph cutting, and you have 100 mph barreling into your barrel if you\u2019re a righty,\u201d Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton said earlier this season in explaining what makes Schlittler so difficult to hit. \u201cThere\u2019s not much of a slowdown for your barrel. You\u2019ve got to pick right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Losing Fried would be a gut punch for most organizations, but with Schlittler continuing his ascension into stardom, the Yankees might be able to continue performing as one of the league\u2019s best clubs without much of a blip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 For any club, losing a $218 million starting pitcher would be debilitating for its chances…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,2704,85],"class_list":["post-674881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}