NEW YORK — Most 24-year-old rookie pitchers wouldn’t get an opportunity to take the mound with his team facing elimination in the postseason.
Cam Schlittler? He’s about to do it for the second time in less than a week.
With their backs again against the wall on Tuesday night, the Yankees extended their season with a 9-6 victory in Game 3 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium, cutting the Blue Jays’ series lead to 2-1. New York still needs to win Wednesday night’s Game 4 at home to force a win-or-go-home Game 5 in Toronto on Friday.
Schlittler already has saved the Yankees’ season once, tossing eight dominant innings in their 4-0 win over the Red Sox in the win-or-go-home Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series last Thursday night. The right-hander from Walpole, Mass., is ready to try to do it again as the ALDS Game 4 starter.
“It was just another day for me, just showing up and making sure I was staying within myself and, obviously, some external factors,” Schlittler said of his first career postseason start. “But at the end of the day, I knew what I needed to do and the team knew what we needed to do, and we were able to go out there and perform at the highest level.”
It’s easy to envision Schlittler having a similar type of performance in ALDS Game 4. The 2022 seventh-round Draft pick has rarely struggled since arriving in the big leagues in July.
Schlittler recorded a 2.96 ERA in 14 regular-season starts. Including his AL Wild Card Series gem, the Northeastern University product has gone at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of his past 12 outings.
One of the only MLB teams that has had success against Schlittler, though, is the Blue Jays, setting up an intriguing matchup for Wednesday.
Schlittler tossed five innings of two-run ball in his second big league start at Toronto on July 22. However, the Blue Jays were better prepared for their second meeting with the righty, who yielded a career-high-tying four runs in 1 2/3 innings against them on Sept. 5 in the Bronx. It’s the only time Schlittler hasn’t completed four innings in his brief big league tenure.
“I think I’m a different pitcher now than I was when I faced them a month ago, and now, even from two weeks ago,” Schlittler said. “They had a good game plan that day, and they were able to foul a lot of balls off and work my count. Going into [Wednesday], just making sure that I can make those adjustments and get the weak contact that I’m looking for.”
Schlittler’s recollection of his previous start vs. the Blue Jays was correct. They fouled off 24 of the 66 pitches he threw in that outing — a 36.4% rate that has easily been the highest against Schlittler, as no other team has even reached 30%.
The Blue Jays jumped on Schlittler early while making him work in their 7-1 win on Sept. 5, using a three-run first featuring an RBI double from Bo Bichette and a two-run single by Nathan Lukes before Bichette’s sac fly in the second chased the righty.
This time, Toronto won’t have Bichette, who was left off the ALDS roster while recovering from a left knee sprain. But the Jays have plenty of other hitters who have seen Schlittler and understand the game plan they’ll need to follow to beat him again.
New York manager Aaron Boone believes Schlittler’s abilities to learn from experience and to implement constant tweaks will again put him in a position to succeed.
“He’s obviously confident in his ability, and he walks out there with some pretty good equipment,” Boone said. “But he’s super matter of fact and expects to do well, but also is kind of accountable over himself, too, and wanting to [go], ‘Man, how can I pull something from that outing that needs to be a little bit better, or build on something that was really good in that outing?’
“I feel like he’s done a really good job of that, and that’s a testament to him and his confidence, but also his expectation of, ‘I need to keep improving.’ He’s done great.”
Schlittler’s Yankees teammates also have trust in the youngster to again help the club save its season.
“We all know what Cam could do, so our level of confidence is pretty high,” said infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hit a go-ahead home run in the ALDS Game 3 win. “But we’ve still got to come out there and help him a little bit, you know?”
