Cam Schlittler doesn’t care about a possible Cy Young Award. He has unfinished business

NEW YORK — No team has been worse against high-velocity fastballs this season than the Cincinnati Reds. Cam Schlittler was not going to allow himself to change that narrative by the end of his start.

Schlittler was dominant Friday night. He set a career-high with 13 strikeouts across six innings pitched, allowing just four hits, one hit-by-pitch and zero walks. At 25 years and 134 days old, Schlittler became the youngest pitcher in New York Yankees history with 13 strikeouts and zero walks in any start. His 1.71 ERA is the lowest by any Yankees pitcher in their first 16 starts in a season since Whitey Ford’s 1.47 ERA in 1964.

“I think he can make the case that he’s been the best pitcher in the American League,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Schlittler.

Perhaps Boone did not want to insult the other starting pitchers in his clubhouse, but there isn’t another American League starter in the same stratosphere as Schlittler this season. He is first in ERA, innings pitched, fWAR, home runs per nine innings pitched, average fastball velocity, FIP and strikeout rate.

Schlittler is the clear front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award. His rise to becoming one of the best pitchers in the sport is one of the biggest developmental success stories in recent franchise history. He was drafted in the seventh round out of Northeastern University, and Schlittler never once had the prospect pedigree of higher draftees. None of that matters now. He has established himself as historically great.

Schlittler’s 2.25 career ERA is the lowest ERA by a Yankees pitcher whose first 30 career appearances were all starts. It’s also the third-lowest ERA by any MLB pitcher since 1913, trailing only the late José Fernández (2.09 ERA) and Paul Skenes (2.15 ERA). NBA champion and New York Knicks swingman Josh Hart posted on X during Friday’s game that he had seen enough. In his eyes, Schlittler is the Cy Young Award winner. The Yankees’ ace has bigger aspirations.

“The city hasn’t seen a championship in a long time,” Schlittler said of the Knicks. “I’m pumped for those guys. Now it’s our turn.

“I think there’s a lot of guys in here that have a s— ton of accolades, but some guys are missing that World Series. That’s kind of the biggest priority when I look at what my goals are — it’s winning a championship.”

Schlittler has only 30 regular-season starts to his name, but he already talks like a mini version of Gerrit Cole. His previous five starts have irked him, even though he entered his start on Friday with a 2.79 ERA in those outings. He felt like his mechanics had been out of sync, so he spent the past few days working on his extension down the mound and trying not to pull his fastballs. The Reds had no answer for any of his pitches. They swung and missed on 37 percent of their swings. Entering Friday night, Cincinnati had the lowest OPS against pitches 95 mph or harder. Against Schlittler, they could only muster three singles and a generously scored double.

Schlittler is a perfectionist. Hours after the most brilliant start of his regular-season career, he was second-guessing his pitch selection to Eugenio Suárez, who singled on a curveball in the second inning, after being late on a 98 mph sinker earlier in the at-bat.

“I made a mistake,” Schlittler said. “I should have probably seen what he did with the fastball.”

When Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. played for the Miami Marlins, he heard stories passed down through the organization about Fernández. Few pitchers who have played in MLB were as electric as Fernández was. But now Chisholm gets to watch from just a few feet behind and see what makes Schlittler great.

“From back there, it just looks crazy nasty,” Chisholm said.

“When you have that arsenal, that much poise and never give in, that’s why you have Cam Schlittler right now.”

If Schlittler continues dominating over the next three weeks, he’ll be in line to start the All-Star Game in Philadelphia. After experiencing postseason baseball in his rookie season last year, it’s not something that Schlittler wrote down as a goal of his coming into the year.

He has more unfinished business to handle.

“I’d rather have a championship over that,” Schlittler said. “All I can do is piece together good starts, good months and put this team in a position to win the division. When it comes to that stuff, it’s really not on my mind.”