David Lennon: Yankees' Gerrit Cole sees greatness, longevity in Cam Schlittler's meteoric rise
Yankees' Cam Schlittler pitches during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Take it from another former phenom, Cy Young Award winner, the Yankees’ resident $324 million ace and likely Hall of Famer.
Gerrit Cole knows what it takes to be a reliable, consistent No. 1 pitcher at this level. Been doing it for the past dozen years. And he’s already convinced that Cam Schlittler, the seventh-round pick currently on track to start the All-Star Game, isn’t some pinstriped comet streaking across the Bronx. It’s not just about his dominant trio of fastballs, either.
“He’s a very smart pitcher,” Cole told Newsday before Wednesday night’s game against the Blue Jays. “He’s very intuitive. He’s very cerebral. He remembers, he preps, he’s got good instincts. Those things have allowed him to get out there to maximize (performance) on less than ideal days of command and stuff.
“And he’s on the grind in terms of how do I get better, how do I prepare for 200 innings — hopefully — how do I prepare for getting through a lineup multiple times. Just how do I keep giving myself a good chance to have success. That’s what he’s doing really, really well, and that’s just enough to stay ahead of the game right now.”
Schlittler dodged a few jams through six scoreless innings Wednesday, but didn’t record an out during a long seventh — extended by some soft contact and a pair of walks — which led to the Yankees’ undoing in a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays. Ernie Clement’s infield single (58 mph exit velo) and a perfect bunt by No. 8 hitter Brandon Valenzuela helped load the bases before Andres Gimenez battled Schlittler for an 11-pitch walk, fouling off five two-strike fastballs to force in the game’s first run.
“Just unacceptable,” Schlittler said. “If I get out of that inning, probably a different outcome to that game.”
Schlittler was pulled after the Gimenez walk, but the Blue Jays scored two of his runs off reliever Jake Bird, nudging his ERA up to 1.50, which still leads the majors among qualified starters. He allowed a season-high eight hits to the pesky Jays and struck out seven in losing the pitcher’s duel to Toronto’s young star Trey Yesavage, who allowed just two hits and struck out eight over six innings.
Aside from Wednesday’s late stumble, Schlittler still has MLB’s top ERA, the second-best WHIP (0.86) and ranks fifth in strikeout/walk ratio (5.57). There’s not much trickery involved, either.
Schlittler lives in the strike zone, and attacks with those three elite fastballs, listed by frequency of usage: a four-seamer that averages 97.8 mph, a cutter at 94.0 and a two-seamer, or sinker, at 97.3. The cutter grades out as MLB’s fourth-best pitch, according to Baseball Savant, a tick above Jacob deGrom’s slider. Schlittler’s four-seamer is eighth, right below Nathan Eovaldi’s split-finger.
That level of weaponry doesn’t get stale. Or figured out.
“The luxury he has, right away, is that he has three offerings that could be a primary offering for anyone,” Cole said. “So you can roll that two-seamer out with a mediocre breaking ball and be in the leagues. You can roll that four-seamer out with a mediocre breaking ball and be in the big leagues. And you can roll that cutter out with a mediocre breaking ball and be in the big leagues.
“He’s got all three, and so I think the challenge is to make sure that we’re allocating the toughest pitches to the hitter for that specific matchup while remaining unpredictable. But it’s three, so sometimes you’re thinking, is there a better choice? Yeah, but sometimes the stuff’s just too good across the board. It really doesn’t matter what you’re throwing.”
To date, Schlittler has dialed up the right combinations. He’s the only pitcher in Yankees’ history to have a sub-1.50 ERA and at least 75 strikeouts through the first 11 starts of a season. Any concern about a sophomore slump for Schlittler quickly evaporated. He’s only improved since last July’s call-up, further sharpened by a pair of playoffs starts that stoked a raging competitive fire.
Schlittler earned October legend status by destroying his hometown Red Sox (12 Ks, 0 walks, 8 scoreless innings) in the Wild Card Series clincher, but couldn’t slow down the Blue Jays (four runs, 6 1/3 innings) in the deciding Game 4 of the Division Series.
Schlittler counts that October experience as a valuable tool going forward, and there’s certainly evidence it’s assisted in his development, based on these past seven weeks. Schlittler’s sponge-like approach with information, as described by Cole, combined with his relentless quest to improve helped put him on the Yankees’ radar last season.
This historical degree of success, however, was not something anyone could have predicted. Schlittler is reaching milestones that haven’t been touched by a Yankee pitcher in a century — and seems well-equipped to stretch this success into the future.
“I think so,” manager Aaron Boone said. “His size and presence and extension and raw stuff — now with the command of three different moving fastballs.”
Cole found it almost impossible to compare his own maturation process with what Schlittler is going through now. The game has evolved at warp speed since his rookie season in 2013, especially when it comes to the eye-popping jumps in velocity and movement. Also, the strikeout percentages have skyrocketed while the volume of innings for a starting pitcher has steadily declined.
But Cole does recognize the DNA for greatness, and there’s little doubt Schlittler has displayed that early on.
Grisham hurt. Trent Grisham was removed from Wednesday night’s game in the fifth inning due to what the team described as left knee discomfort. He’ll have an MRI Thursday. Grisham injured himself legging out a second inning pop-up double that dropped between two defenders near the leftfield foul line.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
