Doc Gooden to Yankees' Cam Schlittler after Cy Young Award honor: 'It’s going to get tougher'

New York Mets icon Dwight "Doc" Gooden knows a little something about the type of success that New York Yankees ace Cam Schlittler has thus far enjoyed during his young MLB career.  

Gooden made his MLB debut in the spring of 1984, and he later became a unanimous choice for the National League Cy Young Award in 1985. Meanwhile, Schlittler unanimously won the American League Cy Young Award earlier this week at the age of 25. 

During a recent chat with Bob Klapisch of NJ Advance Media, Gooden was asked what he would say to Schlittler if the two could meet before the 2027 season gets underway. 

Cam Schlittler has now set the bar quite high for himself

"I’d say, 'No matter what you do, people are going to compare you to last year,'" Gooden explained. "It’s going to be tough to top that. There’s going to be a lot of pressure. Maybe Schlittler can do it, I don’t know. But if he doesn’t, it’s ok. The most important thing is helping your team win." 

Gooden pitched for both the Mets and the Yankees during his career, so he's quite familiar with taking the bump on the biggest of stages in the country's largest baseball market. For what it's worth, Schlittler thus far hasn't seemed to have ever been negatively impacted on a long-term basis by the pressure that comes with playing home games in the Bronx or in Queens. 

Most recently, he finished this past regular season at 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 239 strikeouts over 193.2 innings of work. Over the first four playoff starts of his career, he went 2-2 with an ERA of 1.44 and 26 strikeouts in 25 innings. 

"That kid has so much mound presence," Gooden added about Schlittler. "It’s his confidence, it’s his mannerisms. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he knows he can still beat you. I love it. It’s obvious he’s the Yankees’ best pitcher." 

Why Doc Gooden thinks it now is "going to get tougher" for Cam Schlittler

During his conversation with Klapisch, Gooden remembered something he experienced during the 1986 campaign. 

"It’s going to get tougher for him now," Gooden added about Schlittler. "I shut out the Cardinals (9-0), complete game. I only gave up five hits, threw the ball really well, but I only had five strikeouts. Afterwards, the only questions I got from the press were about the punchouts. Like, 'Doc, what’s wrong? What happened?' I tried to give the reporters the right answer. I said something like, 'Strikeouts aren’t important. All I care about is winning.' But it was eating at me inside. I couldn’t stop thinking about it even after I’d gotten home. It totally took the fun out of winning that game. My next 3-4 starts, I went out there thinking I had to strike out 10-11 guys just to prove myself. That was a mistake. You can’t dominate every time, especially when everyone in the league is gunning for you." 

Of course, Gooden ended the 1986 campaign as a first-time World Series champion. Schlittler and his teammates will hope to go down a similar road next year, assuming the season isn't wiped out by the expected lockout.