Yankees Starters Make History to Begin Season

This touch of history almost didn't happen in the first inning on Opening Day. The San Francisco Giants had Fried on the ropes before the ace got out of it. He finished with 7.1 scoreless innings.

Schlittler vs. the Giants

Schlittler didn't provide the length Fried had because the Yankees are watching his innings, but he still put on a show. In his 5.1 innings, he struck out 12 and handled with ease the likes of Rafael Devers, who has owned the Yankees for years, and Matt Chapman.

The Yankee killer Devers was particularly overwhelmed by Schlittler. In the bottom of the first, he struck out looking on three pitches when Austin Wells challenged the call on the field. The third pitch of the at-bat, which had originally been called a ball, was a 98.7 MPH fastball that peppered the outer corner.

In the fourth inning, Devers faced Schlittler again. He blew 98.5 MPH right down the heart of the plate. Devers swung right through it.

Schlittler's stuff was absolutely nasty. He averaged 98.5 MPH on his fastball, while also sitting 95 on his cutter and 98.2 MPH on his sinker. Of the 41 swings that the Giants took, they generated 13 swings and misses.

The young starter not only blew fastballs by them all game, but, when the Giants did make contact, they had an average exit velocity of 83.1 MPH. They especially had no answer for that sinker. They either whiffed or offered weak contact. The Giants had an average exit velocity of 74 MPH against that pitch.

After the game, Schlittler said the one thing he was looking to do was be efficient. He more than pulled that off, and, were it not for that pitch count, he would likely have gone just as deep or deeper than Fried.

“I was trying to be as efficient as possible, seeing how far I could get,” Schlittler said, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. “[The pitch count] was out of my control. It’s partially my fault because I had that little setback, but I’ll just keep building from this week to next week.”

If this is what the Yankees are going to do before Cole and Carlos Rodon even arrive, they should be in good hands in the early goings of the season. This rotation could prove to be one of the best in the sport by the summer, and they'll have a true three-headed monster heading into the playoffs.

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