NEW YORK — His clothes soggy with champagne and beer, Cam Schlittler stood in a wide, empty hallway in the bowels of Yankee Stadium. From the clubhouse, his teammates called for him to pose for a picture with them. They wanted to toast his historic night — eight shutout innings and 12 strikeouts to dominate the rival Boston Red Sox, 4-0, in an elimination Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series. But Schlittler needed one more minute.
The 24-year-old wanted to talk longer with Matt Hyde, the Yankees’ Northeast area scout, who followed him through his three years at Northeastern University and urged the organization to select him in the seventh round of the draft in 2022.
Back then, Hyde couldn’t have known Schlittler would rescue the Yankees’ season on Thursday night, dazzling Red Sox hitters with 98 mph fastballs and lasting 107 pitches — the most he’d ever thrown.
Hyde couldn’t have known that Schlittler would take just two months in the majors to prove to the Yankees they could trust him in the playoffs, or that Schlittler would need only one postseason appearance to place his name in the same sentence as Yankees great Dave Righetti, who also reached double-digit strikeouts (10) as a rookie in a playoff game in 1981. Schlittler also became the first pitcher in MLB postseason history to throw eight scoreless innings, strike out 12 and walk none.
But Hyde knew there was something different about Schlittler soon after he first watched him years ago.
“He’s always had this growth mindset where he never feels like he’s arrived,” Hyde told The Athletic. “He’s always willing to find out what it takes to be better.”
It would be hard to imagine Schlittler being any better than he was Thursday. He owned the Red Sox, touching 101 mph and scattering five hits. He didn’t allow a single runner to reach third base.
Forget showing fear or anxiousness — he hardly even displayed emotion, apart from a quick fist pump when he got a groundout to shortstop on his final pitch of the night.
For Schlittler, it still hadn’t sunk in afterward.
“No,” he said, “not really. I’m just happy we won the game.”
EIGHT SCORELESS FOR CAM SCHLITTLER! #POSTSEASON pic.twitter.com/Y62iIFJSBo
— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2025
Schlittler’s performance propelled the Yankees into a matchup with the top-seeded Blue Jays in a best-of-five AL Division Series that begins Saturday in Toronto.
“He did something real special,” Aaron Judge said.
“It was phenomenal,” Gerrit Cole said. “Outstanding. Great poise.”
“That’s what he’s capable of,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Even Red Sox manager Alex Cora was blown away.
“We needed to be perfect tonight,” Cora said, “because he was perfect. The stuff is outstanding. He was under control. That was electric.”
Cam Schlittler and Jazz Chisholm Jr. celebrate in the clubhouse after the Yankees’ Game 3 win. (Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Schlittler worked a 1-2-3 first inning and didn’t face a hint of trouble until the fifth, when Nathaniel Lowe singled to start the inning and moved to second base on a two-out Romy Gonzalez single. The rookie righty worked out of it by striking out Jarren Duran with a 99.9 mph fastball. He went into the seventh inning at 89 pitches. Then he went into the eighth at 100 pitches.
“I was hoping and pushing for him to keep going out,” catcher Austin Wells said, “and trying to keep him staying locked in. Like, your job’s not done at six (innings). You’re going to seven. You’re going to eight.”
In the eighth, Schlittler got Gonzalez to strike out on a 97.6 mph fastball in a 2-2 count. Then Duran popped out to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who tumbled into the Red Sox dugout to make the catch. Schlittler finished his night by forcing Trevor Story to ground out on a 98.4 mph sinker.
“That was the best start of his life, I would say, and he did it when we needed it the most,” Wells said.
Cam Schlittler became the first pitcher in postseason history to throw eight scoreless innings, strike out 12 and walk none. (Ishika Samant / Getty Images)
Schlittler traveled a long road to arrive at this point — work he put in well before going 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA over 14 starts after debuting in July, and before he blitzed through Double A and Triple A earlier in the year.
At Northeastern, he showed flashes but sometimes struggled through parts of his junior season. Endorsements to Hyde from former Red Sox manager Joe Morgan and Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine — the brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine — helped reassure the Yankees.
Pitching coach Matt Blake remembered first seeing potential in the 6-foot-6 Schlittler, from his long limbs to his fast-twitch athleticism to his repeatable delivery. He said the Yankees also figured Schlittler would make quick strides once he became a professional. Growing up in Massachusetts, Schlittler couldn’t play baseball year-round, like many warmer-weather prospects.
“To think of what we had when he showed up,” director of player development Kevin Reese said, “and the things that Matty Hyde said we were getting when we (drafted) him. Just to see the growth, maturity-wise. The stuff and everything to go out and have a must-win game against the Red Sox — we’re super proud. He was awesome.”
After drafting Schlittler in 2022, the Yankees immediately remade his pitch arsenal, teaching him how to add nearly 6 mph of average fastball velocity. They also told him to add 20 pounds of strength— a feat he finally accomplished last December.
“He’s really grown from being a low-90s pitcher to being an upper-90s pitcher,” Blake said. “He’s using his secondary (pitches) in a really advanced way. Understanding the nuances of facing a major-league lineup multiple times through and ultimately being able to handle a big environment like this.”
But Schlittler found one major key to his success on his own.
Shortly after he started pitching professionally, he realized how important it would be for him to maintain his composure on the mound, and to pitch deeper into games. So he began experimenting with ways to lower his heart rate. Between innings, he will dunk a towel in ice water and hold it in his hand, or he’ll hold a puck-shaped device that blows cold air out each side.
“That’s very important to me in terms of stamina, all of that stuff,” Schlittler said. “Make sure I’m not getting too tired throughout the game. I’ve looked at breathing stuff. I do have an app where if I feel stressed or anxious, I can use it to slow my heart rate down.”
Cole said he does it, too, and that the goal is to recognize your target heart rates and “ideally, you fluctuate really well.”
“You want to recover somewhere between 100 (beats per minute) and 120, and some guys pitch at 165 or 180,” Cole said.
For Hyde, the scout, Schlittler made it all come together Thursday, using the arsenal the Yankees taught him, the heart-rate control he taught himself and the desire he’s had all along.
“He wasn’t the most popular draft pick we had,” Hyde said, “and he went out there and he earned it and he proved it, and he kept on getting better and better, and I think that’s the underlying theme to everything here.”
(Top photo: Yuki Iwamura / Associated Press)
