Abandoning the breaking balls for pure heat turned a Yankees arm into an elite starter

Apr 7, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; New York Yankees baseball hats and gloves in the dugout out in the eighth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images

Many MLB players come from big-time colleges like LSU, Vanderbilt, Texas, Miami, etc. So, it's easy for scouts to get eyes on these guys. 

But just because you don't go to a big D1 school doesn't mean you won't get noticed. Take Cam Schlittler, for instance. 

He played college baseball for Northeastern University and completely showed out. He was named the Coastal Athletic Association's rookie of the year and a freshman All-American. 

MORE: Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. gets very underwhelming $20M contract projection

Abandoning breaking balls for pure heat turned a Yankees arm into an elite starter

Schlittler would hear his name called in the seventh round by the New York Yankees during the 2022 MLB Draft. It would take a few seasons to work through the minors, but an injury to Clarke Schmidt allowed the Yankees to promote Schlittler in July last year. 

He did well, and even found himself picking up a win against the Boston Red Sox during the postseason last year. However, a new approach has unlocked even more this year, per MLB.com's Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru. 

"Schlittler noted the feedback on his breaking pitches a year ago. Unlike [Jacob] Misiorowski, he's abandoned all pretense and is now throwing 90% fastballs. Sounds unhinged. But because he throws three of them -- the primary four-seamer plus a cutter and a sinker -- hitters are running into the same problem they experience facing Garrett Crochet, not a comp anyone can give lightly."

What has helped Schlittler is that he throws three different variations of a fastball: a four-seamer, sinker, and cutter. Even if the batter sits on the velocity, all three pitches do three very different things. 

This has helped him have a career year so far, and is a reason he has his name in the hat for the AL Cy Young Award in just his first full year in the big leagues. 

More MLB news:

• Guardians lefty proves you don't need triple digits to dominate
• 15 sports stars who played in the Little League World Series before they became famous
• Blue Jays cut ties with former Padres knuckleballer
• How a new cutter and sharper command transformed this White Sox ace