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Yankees’ pitching prospect flashes 97 MPH fastball, continues to shine after promotion

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Cam Schlittler delivering a pitch in TD Bank Ballpark for the Somerset Patriots (via Somerset Patriots)

Cam Schlittler delivered another strong outing for the Scranton RailRiders at the Triple-A level as the Yankees’ surging right-hander had his best stuff of the season.

He was sitting 97.4 MPH while hitting 99 MPH multiple times, striking out nine batters with just one walk in his third start since being promoted to Triple-A.

The cutter he displayed has continued to dominate hitters at a level where pitchers such as Schlittler are often at a disadvantage.

While at Double-A the baseballs move more than the Major League Ball, at the Triple-A level pitchers are introduced to a ball more similar to the ones used in The Show.

This should hurt the movement profiles of a pitcher’s best weapons, but Schlittler has been dominant since being promoted, and the Yankees could see him in the big leagues sooner than initially expected.

The Yankees Could Have a Big League Starter in the Making With Cam Schlittler

MLB: Spring Training-Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Yankees, Cam Schlittler
Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Cam Schlittler has come a long way since his days as a mid-round pick out of Northeastern University, as the right-hander started his professional career throwing around 90-91 MPH.

The progress over the years has helped him sit closer to 94-95 MPH, but since being move dup to Triple-A his velocity has taken a massive leap, sitting 96-97 MPH and hitting 99 MPH multiple times.

Since being moved up to Triple-A, his four-seam fastball has been a swing-and-miss machine due to the overwhelming velocity it has, sitting at 96.6 MPH with 97 MPH of perceived velocitty.

Batters have a 38% Whiff% against that heater, and while I have been more bearish of this pitch despite the gains in velocity, I’ve come around on grading this as a firmly above-average pitch.

It’s so dominant at the top of the zone and possesses some cut-ride action, throwing hitters off and causing them to hit it softly or just flat out miss the pitch.

His cutter has been an even better pitch for him, as while it does not have the monstrous swing-and-miss rates of the four-seamer, it generates a ton of called strikes and soft contact.

Batters are hitting .115 with zero extra base hits against his cutter, which has been his second-most used pitch (36.6%) since the promotion.

His curveball and sweeper remain brilliant swing-and-miss weapons as well, both of them generating Whiff Rates above 40% because of how much spin and movement they have.

I’ve discussed how his sweeper is one of the most unique pitches in the entire sport, as it makes an abnormal amount of ride while sitting in the 86-87 MPH range.

Sometimes this pitch gets tagged as a cutter because it generates so much ride and velocity, but with 10-11 inches of sweep it has the lateral movement to stay off of a hitters swing path and get strikeouts.

This four-pitch mix lacks something that moves into righties and away from lefties, but I am sold on Schlittler’s ceiling being a frontline starter.

The projection for the right-hander has exploded since the start of the season and things have only gotten more unbelievable as he’s gutted through various Minor League lineups.

I do have my reservations about his command, sometimes he misses badly in-zone or goes from 0-2 to 3-2 in a count, but he has made tons of progress in that regard as well.

We shouldn’t crown him an ace in the making (that’s an unfair projection for almost every pitching prospect who has ever lived), but he has been one of the best pitchers in Minor League Baseball this season.

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Outside of Chase Burns, who has become the consensus top pitching prospect in the sport, Cam Schlittler is the only pitcher in the top 10 for FIP (min. 50 IP) who has pitched in Triple-A.

That level is notorious for high-octane offense, as the average ERA this season in the International League sits at 4.91, while Schlittler has a 2.35 ERA at that level.

He’s also struck out over 38% of the batters he’s faced, and when you combine his Double-A and Triple-A starts, he has a monstrous 32.1% strikeout rate while havbing the seventh-most total strikeouts in Minor League Baseball (88).

This is someone who could be a top-100 prospect if he was a higher draft pick or had developed earlier in his career, his late emergency relative to modern first-round pitching prospects have left him woefully underrated.

While the mainstream projection is that he can be a backend starter if he hits his ceiling, I think that kind of projection is way closer to the median than people think.

Reliever risk exists with almost any pitching prospect, but with the depth of arsenal he has now with four above-average pitches makes him a middle of the rotation guy if things click.

I also believe we should open the door to the possibility of a frontline starter here; the velocity and combination of unique secondary pitchers are so hard for me to ignore.

No one has a sweeper like his, few pitchers throw a cutter that has as much movement and velocity, and his curveball is as pretty as it gets.

His velocity gains round out an arsenal that has become extremely dynamic, and the Yankees could be looking at a long-term piece in their rotation.

With the trade deadline coming up however, expect teams to call-in on Cam Schlittler to see if they can pry him in a deal.

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