Cam Schlittler wants to build on his rookie year and add on it — literally.
The Yankees right-hander said Wednesday that he’s hoping to either have a changeup or splitter for the 2026 season, but is leaning toward the former.
While boasting a five-pitch mix, Schlittler relied heavily on his fastball and wielded it 55 percent of the time during his rookie year. Outside of the heater, he primarily used a cutter (21 percent) and curve (15 percent) as his other options.
“Adding a changeup off a splitter, probably more leaning toward a changeup, might be easier for me,” Schlittler said during an appearance on “Yankees Hot Stove” on YES Network. “I think that’s an important pitch to include because I didn’t have that option down to lefties — or even righties as well.”
Schlittler said he started throwing three weeks ago and has begun to work on some grips and will really ramp up in a few weeks in Tampa.
When pressed on why he would be tinkering with his pitch mix, Schlittler said his fastball is still his strength but that a changeup or splitter will help him “neutralize” certain counts.
The Northeastern product became a bright spot in the Yankees’ rotation in 2025, pitching to a 2.96 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 73 innings.
His 12-strikeout, eight-inning masterpiece in the deciding Game 3 of the wild-card series of the Red Sox proved to be one of the highs of not only his season, but the Yankees’ year as a whole.
Part of what helped him down the stretch was correcting a pitching-tipping issue that came to a head during a Sept. 5 start against the Blue Jays in which 24 of his 66 pitches were fouled off.
Thanks to some help from the “guru” Gerrit Cole and lefty Carlos Rodon, Schlittler said he changed how he came to a set in the stretch without pumping his glove. There was even an adjustment in October that he made to truly ensure he wasn’t giving away his offerings.
“When I got to playoffs, I started pre-gripping a changeup — I don’t even have a changeup,” Schlittler said. “So I started pre-gripping a changeup out of the windup, stretch just to kind of avoid tinkering with one pitching or sitting on one.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
