Yankees' 6-foot-6 righty listed as New York's 'most likely' trade chip

The Major League Baseball trade deadline is still two months away, but rest assured, the New York Yankees are already getting their ducks in a row.

After completing a sweep of the Texas Rangers on Thursday, the Yankees have won five straight series and have opened up a season-high 5 1/2-game lead atop the American League East. They're playing with momentum, and they've been thinking World Series all along.

It's obvious, then, that the Yankees will be deadline buyers. But in order to determine who they can go after, they also need to decide which of their top prospects are expendable.

One baseball writer believes there's a tall, hard-throwing right-handed pitcher in the New York system that is at the top of the list to be dealt away for the Yankees to find the help they need.

On Wednesday, Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly named Cam Schlittler as the Yankees' "most likely" trade chip ahead of the deadline. Schlittler is a 24-year-old who is ranked the 10th-best prospect in the Yankees' system by MLB Pipeline.

"Cam Schlittler has become an intriguing trade chip. Since the beginning of last season, he has racked up 198 strikeouts in 158.1 innings pitched with an ERA of 3.24," Miller wrote.

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"We'll see if he can get it to translate to Triple-A and eventually the majors, but he has been mowing down the Eastern League competition so far this season."

Schlittler, according to MLB Pipeline, typically sits between 93-96 miles per hour, topping out at 98. For a tall right-handed starter, that can be highly effective, reminiscent of the Yankees' Gerrit Cole or Luis Gil.

As New York weighs its options, it could be helpful to know in advance that they're comfortable giving up Schlittler in almost any package for an impact player.

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