Sitting at his locker contained in the Yankees’ clubhouse, Cam Schlittler hunched his 6-6 body over and stared straight down into the display screen of an iPad on Wednesday afternoon.
The 24-year-old right-hander was learning scouting stories hours earlier than his large league debut, however he didn’t keep in place for lengthy.
A couple of minutes later, Schlitter ventured into the Yankees’ dugout, the place he took a telephone name. From there, he wandered in and across the clubhouse, virtually as if he didn’t know tips on how to navigate his new environment.
As soon as he took the mound, nonetheless, Schlittler hardly seemed misplaced. With a first-inning strikeout of MLB residence run chief Cal Raleigh and a scorching fastball that hit 100 mph, the Yankees’ high pitching prospect made it clear the he belonged from the get-go.
“He was nasty today,” Jasson Domínguez stated after Schlittler totaled three earned runs, 4 hits, two walks and 7 strikeouts over 5.1 innings in opposition to the Mariners. The efficiency earned him his first large league win in a 9-6 Yankees victory.
Schlittler additionally grew to become simply the tenth pitcher in franchise historical past to report 7+ strikeouts of their MLB debut.
“He was sick,” stated Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hit two homers within the sport.
Whereas pitchers and place gamers usually share actual property within the clubhouse, Schlittler obtained the spare locker subsequent to Chisholm’s. Previous to the sport, Chisholm instructed the rookie that the Yankees had his again, and that he simply wanted to play the identical sport he at all times has.
Requested if Schlittler appeared calm, Chisholm stated, “I mean, his cheeks was red, so I don’t know how calm that is.”
“Nah, he did a great job,” Chisholm continued. “It looked like he was very calm on the mound, and he kept his composure with a couple things.”
Schlittler, pitching in entrance of his mother and father, girlfriend and about 20 different family and friends members, admitted to feeling some “jitters” on Wednesday morning. Nonetheless, these subsided by the point he stepped on the sphere. It helped that he was capable of get his toes moist on Tuesday, exhibiting as much as Yankee Stadium as a member of the taxi squad.
“Even before getting drafted, the goal is to play professional baseball, and I definitely wanted to be a Yankee,” he stated regardless of rising up a Pink Sox fan. “So it’s a dream come true.”
Whereas Schlittler wasn’t good — he surrendered residence runs to J.P Crawford and Jorge Polanco — his outing earned him the Yankees’ wrestling-style Participant of the Sport belt, which they hand out after wins. He additionally obtained a standing ovation from the Bronx crowd when Aaron Boone pulled him from the sport.
“I don’t think I’ve really processed it yet, but I think coming out and everyone standing up was definitely a great feeling,” stated Schlittler, who was solely promoted to Triple-A just a few weeks in the past. “It’s loud. It’s really loud, so it feels really good.”
Schlittler added that he has possession of the ball that Raleigh struck out on within the first, because it was the primary punchie of his younger profession. He deliberate on giving it to his mother and father in order that they might put it in his room again residence in Walpole, Mass.
With easy warmth at his disposal, extra strikeouts are coming for Schlittler. He gained’t have to attend lengthy, as Boone made it recognized that the flame-thrower will get one other alternative following a glove-popping debut and some accidents to the Yankees’ rotation.
“Look, it’s his first start,” the supervisor stated. “He’s going to make another one now. I see a lot of potential.”
Boone first took be aware of Schlittler in spring coaching, because the pitcher was a first-time invitee to large league camp. He wasn’t throwing as laborious then, however Schlittler’s fastball stood out essentially the most to the skipper on Wednesday. Boone was additionally impressed with the 2022 seventh-round decide’s secondary arsenal, which Schlittler solely not too long ago revamped to incorporate a cutter.
“You see his stuff really plays,” Boone stated. “And I thought just his calm and his poise and focus were excellent.”
Boone added that he believes Schlittler’s dimension elements into the best way batters see his pitches. He’s wanting ahead to that principle being examined some extra with Schlittler’s main league profession now underway.
“He’s absolutely the guy that’s put up the numbers and done the work here in these first few months now at the higher levels to get this opportunity,” Boone stated. “It’s because he’s got a big arm, and he continues to get better.”
