Erik Boland: Cam Schlittler makes impression with his toughness
Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler throws in the first inning against the Brewers at American Family Field on May 9, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Credit: Getty Images/John Fisher
MILWAUKEE — Cam Schlittler already had impressed the Yankees with a power arsenal that has him smack in the middle of the conversation to be the American League starter in July’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
On Saturday night, he impressed them with his toughness.
Sloughing off a wicked first-inning drive back to the mound that banged off his left calf, Schlittler threw darts over six scoreless innings of the Yankees' 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Brewers at American Family Field, lowering his season ERA to 1.35.
Schlittler, who allowed two hits and left with a 2-0 lead, saw his record stay at 5-1 as the bullpen blew multiple leads and the Yankees went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.
A night after Brewers fireballer Jacob Misiorowski and his 103-mph fastball stole the show — he struck out 11 in Milwaukee’s 6-0 victory — Schlittler and his triad of diversely moving fastballs seized the stage Saturday night.
“We saw a great fastball last night on the other side [with] Misiorowski,” manager Aaron Boone said before Saturday’s game. “They’re going to see one tonight from Cam.”
One could detect a hint of arrogance in Boone’s comment, but if so, it was arrogance born from the reality that nine starts into the 2026 season, Schlittler, throwing almost exclusively fastballs, has been borderline unhittable.
Entering Saturday, Schlittler, who ranked second in the AL in opponents’ batting average (.187) and second in the majors in opponents’ OPS (.479), had thrown his four-seam fastball 44% of the time, his cutter 26% and his sinker 20% (followed by 8% curveballs and 2% sliders).
It was more of the same Saturday night.
Of Schlittler’s first 22 pitches, 18 were four-seam fastballs that averaged 98.5 mph.
Of his 29 pitches through two innings, all were fastballs (22 four-seamers, six cutters and one sinker).
He did not throw a non-fastball until his 38th pitch of the night, a 0-and-1 slider to Brewers leadoff man Jackson Chourio with two outs in the third.
Schlittler, a consummate strike-thrower who struck out six and did not walk a batter, ended the night at 97 pitches, including 46 four-seamers (48%), 37 sinkers (39%), nine cutters (9%) and three sliders (3%). He threw one sweeper, his first such pitch of the season.
It was far from clear in the early going that Schlittler would make it out of the first inning, let alone to nearly 100 pitches.
After retiring the game’s first two hitters — Chourio swinging at a 99-mph four-seam fastball and Brice Turang on a weak groundout to second — William Contreras hit a shot back up the middle at 108.5 mph that caught Schlittler flush on his left calf.
“That ball was smoked,” Boone said.
Schlittler hobbled a bit and Boone and head trainer Tim Lentych swiftly went to the mound to check on him.
“He got me good,” Schlittler said.
Boone and Lentych watched a clearly-in-discomfort Schlittler throw three warmup pitches, all of them high and not particularly close.
“I kept trying to be pretty firm, like, ‘Tell us the truth,’ '' Boone said.
Boone laughed. “He was just more mad at himself for not throwing a strike in the warmup pitches,” he said. “So that’s why he kept throwing, he was like, ‘I just want to throw one down.’ ”
Schlittler struck out the next batter, former Yankee Jake Bauers, swinging at a 98.2-mph four-seamer to end the 15-pitch first. He didn’t seem out of the woods, though, leaving the mound and slowly making his way to the third-base dugout with a noticeable limp.
Schlittler received treatment between innings, including getting the calf wrapped, and was the last Yankee to take the field for the bottom of the second. He struck out two of three batters in that inning and did not allow his second hit until Garrett Mitchell singled with one out in the fifth.
“Warmup pitches weren’t too encouraging, but I was able to settle in after that,” Schlittler said.
Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who bonded with Schlittler shortly after the righty made his big-league debut last July 9, said he initially was surprised he was able to stay in the game — but not surprised at the scoreless innings that followed.
“That ball was hit pretty hard,” Chisholm said. “Thank God it hit him where he has some meat. It would have been bad.”
Chisholm smiled. “He knew I was going to call him soft if he would have come out of the game, so he tried to stay in,” he said. “But he did a good job staying in there . . . He’s a tough kid, and I think he’s going to be great and be a star in this game for a long time.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
