Yankees Have the American League Version of Paul Skenes

May 9, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler (31) delivers a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

Yankees Have the American League Version of Paul Skenes

Originally posted on Fastball on SI | By Patrick McAvoy | Last updated May 21, 2026 8:52 AM ET

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The New York Yankees are pretty much always contenders in the American League.

New York has plenty of money to spend and the the Evil Empire has a history of spending it to poach big-name superstars. The Yankees don't use that strategy to the same extent as they once did, but if you look at this roster you can find examples, like Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole and Max Fried. But there is a lot of homegrown talent on the roster as well, like Aaron Judge and Ben Rice, for example.

The Yankees entered the 2026 season with the expectation that they were going to be good and potentially the top team in the American League. But a homegrown budding star is helping to take this team to another level. Cam Schlittler made 14 starts for the Yankees in the regular season and was great. He had a 2.96 ERA in 73 innings pitched and then notably helped New York knock the Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs after pitching eight shutout innings against New York's biggest rival.

Cam Schlittler Has Been A Beast For New York

The 25-year-old was expected to be good coming into the 2026 season, but no one could have seen the season he's having coming. In fact, he looks like the American League version of Paul Skenes right now. Over the last 25 years, just Schlittler and Skenes have allowed 35 earned runs or fewer while striking out 159 or more batters in their first 25 career big league games.

Cam Schlittler has allowed a total of 35 earned runs in his first 25 career big league games and struck out 159 batters doing it.

The only pitcher in MLB history to top both of those marks in their first 25 games is Paul Skenes. pic.twitter.com/YPxPZzvLvZ
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) May 21, 2026

So far this season, Schlittler looks like the front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award. He has made 11 starts and is leading the league with 3.1 wins above replacement, six wins, 66 innings pitched, and an eye-popping 1.50 ERA. He also has a 75-to-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio over that span as well. He has just been ridiculous.

Let's take a look at how he compares to Skenes after their first 25 starts.

Name	Record	ERA	Strikeouts	Innings Pitched
Cam Schlittler	10-5	2.27	159	139
Paul Skenes	12-3	1.92	183	145 1/3

It's hard for any pitcher to compare to Skenes at this point. He has been on another planet to kick off his big league career.

But Schlittler actually has been better than him this year. Skenes has made 10 starts and has a 2.62 ERA, 6-3 record and a 63-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 55 innings pitched. Schlittler's ERA is over one whole run lower than Skenes'

Skenes is just 23 years old and Schlittler is 25 years old. Fortunately, these young guys are going to be around for a long time tearing up the American League and National League.

This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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