No team has spent more aggressively on starting pitching in free agency than the New York Yankees. In MLB history, only 17 starters have signed free-agent deals worth more than $150 million, and five of those were with the Yankees (no other franchise has signed more than two). Three of those pitchers — Gerrit Cole, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, with contracts totaling more than $700 million — remain entrenched in New York's rotation today.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the seventh AL Cy Young Award winner in Yankees history is not one of these highly paid hurlers, but rather, one they gave a $205,000 bonus after selecting him in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft. That's 25-year-old right-hander Cam Schlittler, who received all 30 first-place votes from the BBWAA electorate, beating fellow finalists Dylan Cease of Toronto and Parker Messick of Cleveland. Schlittler joins Cole and Roger Clemens as Yankees' Cy Youngs this century and is the youngest Yankee ever to take home the award and the franchise's first homegrown starter to win since Ron Guidry in 1978.

This was one heck of a statement for Schlittler to make in his first full year as a major leaguer. Although he exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2025 with a stellar showing down the stretch and a spectacular outing against the Red Sox in October, several questions loomed as Schlittler embarked on his first full season in the Yankees' rotation in 2026. Would his overwhelmingly fastball-forward arsenal hold up, or would a more diverse assortment of pitches be required to keep hitters guessing? Could he improve his walk rate, which climbed above 10% last year? What about his susceptibility to airborne contact — Schlittler's 36.4% ground-ball rate ranked in the 20th percentile as a rookie — especially pitching in Yankee Stadium?

To be clear, there was mostly optimism surrounding Schlittler entering this season. At the same time, it felt like the dozen strikeouts he recorded over eight scoreless innings against the rival Red Sox last October might have amplified the hype beyond realistic expectations. As it turned out, that hype was wholly justified. Schlittler began his 2026 season with two scoreless outings in San Francisco and Seattle totaling 11 ⅔ innings with just three hits allowed and 15 strikeouts. With that, the tone was set. 

Over the next six months, rarely did Schlittler stumble, finishing the season with a 1.95 ERA and 239 strikeouts across 193 ⅔ innings pitched. He delivered another postseason gem against Boston (6 ⅓ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K) before a more mediocre showing against Tampa Bay in the ALDS contributed to New York's early October exit. The body of work amassed during the regular season left no doubt about who would collect the hardware. Schlittler's 1.95 ERA was the lowest by a qualified Yankee since the aforementioned Guidry in his sensational debut campaign nearly 50 years ago (1.74). Before Guidry, you have to go all the way back to Spud Chandler in 1943 (1.64) to find a lower mark. 

Chandler won AL MVP that year, and while Schlittler won't be winning that award when it is announced Thursday, it's reasonable to suggest that he deserved consideration as a finalist. His 7.0 bWAR ranked second in the AL behind only Tigers rookie sensation Kevin McGonigle (7.1), and his 6.2 fWAR ranked third behind Bobby Witt Jr. (7.0) and presumptive MVP Yordan Alvarez (6.8). And somehow, Schlittler's sensational surface-level run prevention almost undersells how consistent he was at throwing up zeroes. 

Schlittler made 33 regular-season starts, and he allowed one or zero earned runs in 25 of them. That's not just the most such outings by a pitcher this year (by far — Jacob Misiorowski was second with 20); it's tied with 1963 Sandy Koufax for the most in a single season since integration (excluding openers). Tied for second on that list, with 24, is Koufax in 1966 and Bob Gibson in 1968. Decent company!

Watch even a few innings from Schlittler, and it's not difficult to understand why scoring against him is so difficult. The 6-foot-6 righty attacks relentlessly with elite velocity via three different fastball variations — 44% four-seam, 26% cutter, 19% sinker — proving that pure dominance can be possible with minimal breaking ball or off-speed usage. Of course, the Red Sox learned the hard way in October that his curveball is pretty dang good, too. 

Crucially, in 2026, Schlittler also made strides with his command and keeping the ball in the ballpark, cutting his walk rate to 6.4% (13th-lowest among 46 qualified starters) and upping his ground-ball rate to 43.2% (above league-average). He surrendered just 16 home runs in the regular season — 11 of them solo shots — which equates to a 0.74 HR/9 that was sixth-lowest in MLB.

Put it all together, and any and all suspense was eliminated leading up to Wednesday's Cy Young announcement. Schlittler was the undisputed answer. 

Schlittler's journey from being drafted as a late-round pick to being unanimously named the best pitcher in his league is a remarkable testament to the Yankees' developmental aptitude on the mound, a valuable organizational trait that works brilliantly in tandem with the organization's deep pockets enabling the acquisition of impact arms in free agency.

With his career still just beginning, Schlittler represents the ultimate success story of a talented, but raw, young pitcher who had the kind of physical frame that hints at significant upside with the right instruction and coaching — and one who landed with exactly the right team to maximize that potential.