The Yankees will turn to a highly rated arm as rotation injuries pile up.
Yankees will fill rotation hole with top pitching prospect originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
After losing Clarke Schmidt for the season, the New York Yankees are preparing to promote right-hander Cam Schlittler for his major league debut next week, New York Post columnist Joel Sherman reported.
The move hasn’t been officially announced, and Sherman reported club officials were still finalizing plans over the weekend.
But the current internal expectation is that Schlittler, a 24-year-old rising through the system this season, will take the ball Monday or Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium.
Between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, Schlittler has posted a 3.52 ERA across 15 appearances (14 starts), showing off the strike-throwing consistency and pitch mix that has steadily moved him up the organizational depth chart. Earlier this month, Yankees manager Aaron Boone called him “an exciting pitcher” who had “certainly put himself in the mix.”
Now, it looks like his time has arrived.
And it’s not hard to see why.
The Yankees are in the middle of a rotation crisis that only got worse this weekend. Before Saturday’s Subway Series game, Boone revealed that Schmidt will “most likely” require Tommy John surgery—a blow that would wipe out his 2025 season and likely most, if not all, of 2026. Schmidt had been one of the more reliable arms before landing on the injured list with forearm tightness earlier this week.
Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Will Warren have made every start asked of them. But the other two spots in the rotation have been a game of musical chairs. Now, with Schmidt out and Marcus Stroman still a question mark, the Yankees are forced to turn to a prospect with upside and momentum.
Schlittler may not be a household name yet. But if the Yankees are going to hold their ground in the AL East, they’ll need him to grow up fast and make a name for himself.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Baseball