341 - Dominant Cam Schlittler Is Must Watch - as he takes down the Mets

Cam Schlittler is making Yankees starts feel like appointments, and his Subway Series performance against the Mets is the latest reason why. I break down how he cruises through a hostile road environment, gives up only two hits and one run, and still manages to strike out Juan Soto twice. The box score is great, but the bigger story is the pattern: Schlittler keeps repeating dominance, and it’s starting to look like the early shape of a Cy Young season.

I dig into what makes him different right now: a fastball-first approach that should not work this well in modern MLB, paired with elite command, a ridiculous strikeout-to-walk profile, and the confidence to attack hitters instead of pitching scared. I also talk about why this feels so rare for the Yankees, a franchise that often buys pitching but doesn’t always develop a true homegrown star starter, and what it means when a young arm elevates in big spots.

Then I move through the rest of the Yankees night with quick, honest takes: Jazz Chisholm finally finding results at the plate while playing strong second base, why Cody Bellinger’s contact and versatility keep paying off, Ben Rice continuing to mash, and why the ninth inning remains a problem with David Bednar and the broader bullpen. If you care about the Yankees rotation, roster construction, and what actually wins tight games, this one is for you. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review with your take: is Schlittler already the Yankees’ best starter?

Jersey Guy Sports is available on all podcasting platforms. 

• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts 
• Listen on YouTube
• Listen on PocketCasts
• Listen on iHeart Radio
• Listen on Amazon Music
• Listen on TuneIn and Alexa
• Listen on other podcasting platforms here

Socials

•  Facebook, JGS Twitter, Threads, Youtub...

Transcript

Welcome And Tonight’s Focus

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to Jersey Guy Sports, your sports talk going for the Yanks, the Giants, the Knicks, the Rangers, and the Ruckers Call Knights. And I'm your host, Donna, and I thank you for listening. Now, tonight we're discussing Cam Schlittler continuing his absolute dominance. Well, you talk about a rising star. Give up only two hits and one run to the Mets to open the Subway series with the Mets. So let's go ahead and get started. So Friday night in City Field against the Mets. Cam Schlittler did what he always seems to do. He took the mound and he dominated. Rinse, repeat. Rinse, repeat. It is an amazing thing to behold if you're Yankee fans. On Friday night, he did it again. And Schlitter gave up only one run on only two hits. And he left with two outs in the seventh inning as the Yankees ended up beating the Mets five to two to open the Subway series against the Mets. And Schlitter's only mistake on Friday night was to the great Juan Soto, who touched him up for an opposite field homer. And by the way, Schlitter also struck out Juan Soto twice before that. Twice. How good a pitcher do you have to be to strike out Ju Soto twice in the game? Right. Amazing. Just amazing. I mean, Soto is not Wells who will strike out twice every game, you know? Amazing. Schlitter is just a it's amazing to behold him if you are a Yankee fan, and it is a phenomenon. I mean, it is an event now when Cam Schlitler starts a Yankee game. And for Yankee fans that go to home games a lot, you're probably lining up your tickets so that you can see games where Cam Schlittler starts the game. And if there's fans out there who somehow are not aware of just how good Cam Schlitzer is, Friday night served as yet another reminder of just how good Schlitler has been this year. And if you're watching him, it's just amazing to see the ease with which he strikes out opposing players. And in case the eye test is not good enough for you. Here's some stats from just this year for Cam Schlittler. So this season, Schlitter has allowed three hits or fewer in six of his ten starts. So think about that for a moment. He started ten games this year, and in six of those games, he's either given up one, two, or three hits the entire game. Six out of ten times. I mean, that's not good. That is brilliant starting pitching. Just amazing, amazing starting pitching. In his ten starts this year, Schlittler has given up zero or one earned runs in eight of the ten starts. Again, just think about how good that is. Eighty percent of your starts, you either throw a shutout or give up one run. Started ten, eight of them are either shutouts or one run. That is how good Cam Schlitter has been. I mean, that's the very definition of an ace. And by the way, he has a 1.35 ERA through 10 starts, which happens to lead Major League Baseball. Right now, he is probably the American League Cy Young favorite at this point. I mean, none of this is hyperbole. And if you watch him, the eye test matches up with the statistics, right? Sometimes people get carried away by analytics and this, and you know, runs saved and defensive this and you know, whip and all this other stuff. Let me tell you, you watch him pitch as a Yankee fan, you just know it, you feel it, right? We're watching a rising star here, and it's a great thing. It's wonderful. He is the very definition of an ace, and he's become a must-watch a must-watch for Yankee fans, right? And the amazing part when you watch him pitch is he can do it, and he does do it, almost entirely by throwing fastballs, which is so rare today that everyone has so much junk, right? And everyone nibbles and pitches around a bunch of people, and most starters walk, you know, way more people than they should. His walks are minuscule, right? His strikeout to walk ratio is unbelievable. But the bottom line is he throws mostly fastballs and comes right at you. Now he has various fastballs, you know, a straight one, one that breaks left, one that actually breaks a little bit to the right. But mostly 85-90% of his pitches are fastballs. And even with that, he is dominating the way he is against major league players. Again, he struck out Judo twice yesterday, right? So this is not just some flash in the pan. He came up, I think, in July last year. So he has not even pitched one calendar year yet, and he's already shown not only that he can pitch well, but he can rise to the occasion in big spots, right? He's won you know a playoff game, right, against Boston last year. Huge you know, win or go home game, you know, where Schuttler started and absolutely dominated the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs, right, last year. Brilliant, absolutely, completely brilliant, right? You know, the subway series on the road. There are certain spots that are bigger than others. The subway series, I say, is one of them. The playoffs, obviously, are one of them, you know, on the road, you know, must-win games, things like that. And so far, he has not only shown the ability to pitch well, but to elevate in big spots, and that is the definition of a star. And I think at this point he might be our best pitcher, and that's really saying something considering all the good starting pitchers that the Yankees have. Now, in addition to his fastballs, which he mostly throws the entire game, he does have a really good breaking ball, a very sharp breaking ball, but he does not have to use it much because hitters just simply cannot seem to catch up to his fastball much at all, which you know runs anywhere from 96 to 99. And if hitters start to catch up to that, you know, he is going to employ other weapons, you know, which is just incredible. That he just sort of seems to have a really good breaking ball in his back pocket, which he does not have to use very much, which is just brilliant. It's unbelievable. He might be the Yankees' number one starter overall, as I mentioned. And this is a team with Garrett Cole, Freed, Rodon on it. And if Schlittler is the best in that group, that is the definition of a very good starting staff. So that is how good Cam Schlittler has been as a starter. I mean, to me, it's pretty clear that we're watching a rising star here, and it's really, really enjoyable. And as I think about it, and as I was watching him again yesterday, I was trying to think when is the last time the Yankees have developed a starting pitcher who has gone on to become a star? And I don't mean just a you know, a decent pitcher, a good pitcher, an actual major league star, like a star pitcher. And and it might be way back to Andy Pettit. Like I can't think of anyone between Andy Pettit and now that the Yankees have come out of their farm system, pitched a full major league career, and been a star. I mean, it has been a really, really long time. Really long time. El Duque, you know, maybe. I mean, there's really not a lot. Most of the Yankees' really good starters have come from other teams. And you think about CC Sabatia and David Cohn and all the other Yankee great pitchers have been free agent signings, right? They have not come from the Yankee farm system. Obviously, Cole and Rodan, I don't know if he's really a star or not, but still it's great to see. I love it that they're able to develop a star starting pitcher, which, you know, it might be a tiny bit too soon, but I don't think it is. I think at this point there's enough evidence there, and we can really say that Cam Schlittler is a star pitcher in the making at this point. What else can you say? I mean, he's been that good. Very and the last thing I want to talk about, Schlittler, a little off the books here. What is it with all these batted balls getting hit off him lately? It is just unbelievable. Two more times yesterday against the Mets, liners or bouncers up the middle that smashed off his leg. Now, this is like four times in the last three starts where a batted ball has smashed off his leg. I don't understand. It's like he's got a magnet in his leg or something, and the ball just get attracted to him. And two starts ago, bam, off his leg. Last start, bam, off his leg. Friday night, two times, bam, bam, off his leg, off his leg. Four times batted balls have been hit off his leg in the last three games, which is just nuts. And honestly, he's lucky. And the Yankee fans are lucky, and the Yankees are lucky that Clay, you know, he didn't get hurt like Clay Holmes did. You know, he I mean, batted ball hits you hard. Bad things can really happen. Just look at Clay Holmes last night. He got nailed by a Spencer Jones batted ball, and he's out for a while, they're saying it's some kind of fracture or something. I didn't really read closely, but you know, it can happen you get hit by a ball. And Cam seems to just shrug it off, go back out there, and pitch even better than he's been pitching. Each time he's gotten hit, he's sort of come out and struck out the next guy or pitched really well the next inning or whatever it is. He just seems to make him more determined. In addition to his great pitching, he seems to have a I don't know, he's got like a battler mentality. Like, you know, when when the Boston fans were giving him shit, you know, before that series, he was, you know, just sort of went back at him and and pitched better. It's it's sort of a a dog mentality, too, right? Which is what you need. When you have an ace and you have a you know, someone that's out there every fifth day and a dominant pitcher, you know, you want him to have a tough mental attitude, and he seems like a dog. Like he really seems like someone who is not affected by the things, you know, four batted balls. He basically shrugs it off and just, you know, keeps the same focused demeanor on the next batter and goes out and strikes out the next batter. And that's exactly what you want to see from your starting pitcher and from your potential ace. Just great stuff. Other quick thoughts before I get out of here. Chisholm had a really good game, finally, at the bat. He had an excellent game at the plate. He had three more hits, I think. Maybe it's these baggy pants he's wearing lately that are that are spurring him on. I don't know. Something's helping him. He also, by the way, continues to play really good defense most of the time in second base. When he is on, he is an outstanding second baseman. I mean, such quickness. He has a good strong arm. He can turn a good double play. When he's on, you know, and he's not always on, he plays a great second base. And right now, he's playing a great second base, and he got a couple hits. So let's hope he starts to pick up his offensive season because the Yankees are a different team when Jazzism is hitting the ball like he has been the last game or two. Other quick thoughts. Volpey still sucks balls. He did not make an error, but he did strike out again. Wells still sucks. I mean, you know, we could start off every single podcast by saying that it just, you know, him and Volpey the bane of my existence. Other quickies. What is wrong with Ryan McMahon's throwing? He makes other good diving plays and then gets up and throws the ball low, lobs it over, throws it in the dirt. What is going on with his throws? I don't understand. I don't get it. I don't know. Hopefully somehow it gets remedied. Other quickies, Bellinger. Again, another big hit for Belly. I really, really like Bellinger, and I'm so glad the Yankees re-signed him. He makes and made another good catch in left field yesterday. He makes every single catch at every position they put him in. He's a good base runner. He has a good arm. He he makes contact. He doesn't strike out. Again, with 0-0 game, you know, when two strikes, he sort of bent over, reached down, and hooked a double down the right field line, shortened his swing, made contact, which is again one of the maybe one of the two people on the team that actually does that. And it's so valuable. It's so valuable. Now he doesn't put up the end-of-year numbers that the big hitters are gonna on the Yanks, but to me, he's more valuable than some of them because of these spots. I I'm so glad the Yanks continued to sign Ballinger and get another good night. Speaking of big hitters, Rice continued to mash another homer, another bullet hit besides that, two more hits. Rice is just turning out to be an incredible hitter. Bednar again gave up another run in the ninth inning. Bednar seems to never, ever, ever go one, two, three in the ninth. At this point, I think we need another closer. I I've had it with him. I just I don't want to talk on this podcast and turn into something negative because Shuttler was great again, but we need a closer. We basically need an entire new bullpen, but we have to start with a closer. We need an actual closer. Spencer Jones, last thing, maybe, got a few hits. Finally, finally, right? He's been absolutely terrible for us. I still think he's probably gonna be trade mate because I don't think we can have another person on the team that just hits home runs or strikes out as much as he does. But at least he got a few hits yesterday, so maybe he can help us in the short run as we try to navigate through all these injuries. It's really an exciting time, right, for Yankee fans, and I'm gonna get out of here in a minute. If you love starting pitching and you love seeing rising stars in the Yankees starting pitching area, which I do, it's been a long time. It's just amazing to see Cam Schlitzer pitch. And every game he seems to be as good or better than the last, and you love that he meets the moment, you know, these big moments, playoffs on the road, subway series. You know, you love that he has this dog mentality in him where he just gets focused or pitches better in adversity. It's hard to not like everything about him, and and it's just awesome to watch. So that's it. The Yankees continue the Subway series against the Mets on Saturday. Go, Yankees. That's gonna do it for the podcast. I want to thank you for listening to Jersey Guy Sports. Please subscribe, tell your friends all about it, and I'll be back soon with some more sports talk. Thanks and have a good day.