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Try it freeCHICAGO — The Mets and Red Sox made waves this week by calling up young pitchers to help with their playoff pushes.
The Yankees played that card last month with Cam Schlittler.
By now, what the fireballing right-hander is doing has become the norm.
Schlittler shut down yet another opposing lineup, this time giving up just one run across six innings with eight strikeouts before the Yankees beat the White Sox 5-3 in 11 innings on Saturday night.
The 24-year-old rookie allowed just four hits, only two of which left the infield, as he continues to make a case for a rotation spot in October.
“He’s a beast,” catcher Austin Wells said. “He goes out there and it doesn’t matter who’s at the plate, he’s going to go out there and throw his pitches and give us outs.”
Schlittler has a 2.61 ERA through his first nine big league starts, with 54 strikeouts across 48 ¹/₃ innings.
He has completed at least six innings in each of his past three starts, giving up just one run across 18 ²/₃ innings with 24 strikeouts.
“It takes time to really get that feel out there, so with each start I’m definitely feeling more comfortable, [but] not trying to get too comfortable,” said Schlittler, who was selected 11 picks after the newest Mets pitcher, Jonah Tong, in the seventh round of the 2022 draft.
“Just understand I can go out there and be confident in myself and do what I need to do for six innings.”
Along the way, Schlittler appeared to dodge a bullet, if not the ball.
He took a 102.1 mph comebacker off his right forearm in the fifth inning — it mostly got the muscle, manager Aaron Boone said — but after throwing two warmup pitches, he stayed in the game.
“Didn’t really feel it out there, so I wasn’t really concerned,” said Schlittler, who expects to just have a bruise from it. “I think it gave me the extra adrenaline I was looking for. Not concerned at all.”
The White Sox do not exactly roll out the most fearsome lineup, but Schlittler mostly breezed through it while giving up only an RBI single to ex-Yankee Mike Tauchman in the fifth inning.
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Across a career-high 100 pitches, Schlittler’s high-90s fastball was not quite as sharp as it has been, but he made up for it with an especially effective cutter in addition to his curveball.
“Being able to get that cutter back in there definitely made things a little bit easier for me,” he said.