Cam Schlittler sends honest message to Yankees haters after Mariners outing

Cam Schlittler sent out a four-word message to New York Yankees haters on X after his first start of the season. 

The right-hander wrote, "Keep hating on us." On that day, Schlittler threw 5.1 scoreless innings in the outing against the San Francisco Giants.

He's not one to shy away from smack talk. During last year's postseason, he explained the bantering back and forth with Boston Red Sox fans -- who called him a traitor because he's from Massachusetts-- fueled a fire in him.  

It's a new season and new expectations for the Yankees, but Schlittler's mindset when it comes to wearing the pinstripes remains the same. 

Schlittler: 'Everyone hates us' 

When he's not pumping his 99 mph fastball past batters, Schlittler likes to find reasons for himself to get pumped for his next start. Listening to and reading what haters of the Yankees have to say is probably an easy way to accomplish that. 

"We're the Yankees," Schlittler told Gary Phillips of the Daily News. "Everyone hates us. I find enjoyment in that." 

Whatever Schlittler is doing is working. He had another scoreless outing on Wednesday, this time against the Seattle Mariners. Schlittler struck out seven and allowed just two hits in 6.1 innings. 

Clearly, trying to get in Schlittler's head doesn't work very well. 

“I feel like the Yankees aren’t an underdog team, but there are people after us. People don’t like us," Schlittler told Phillips. "People don’t like me, and that’s part of the game. I find a lot of comfort in that, so I think it’s fun." 

More MLB news:

• Braves predicted to trade Bryce Elder for Lars Nootbaar
• Jacob DeGrom is only 149 strikeouts from 2,000 for his career
• Three ways Pirates' Paul Skenes could lose NL Cy Young Award
• Giancarclo Stanton has an absurd 2-for-4 streak going on for Yankees
• Mets didn’t want to trade Brett Baty while White Sox didn’t want Mark Vientos in Luis Robert Jr. trade
• How Blue Jays' Kazuma Okamoto is connected to Rockies' Tomoyuki Sugano
• Red Sox never close on Astros’ Isaac Paredes trade
• Shohei Ohtani deemed more valuable than Aaron Judge in recent ESPN discussion piece