As the New York Yankees fought their way to an American League Wild Card spot last year and advanced to the AL Division Series before being stopped by the Toronto Blue Jays, a new and unexpected pitching hero emerged for the Bronx Bombers. Cam Schlittler, then just 24 years old and a largely unheralded seventh-round 2022 draft pick â only the ninth major-league player ever to come out of Boston’s Northeastern University â seemed to come out of nowhere with a record-setting performance that eliminated the Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card round.
In the deciding Game 3 of the series, the 6-foot-6 Schlittler shut out the Red Sox on just five hits over eight innings, striking out 12 â the most ever by a Yankees pitcher in a postseason debut â without issuing a single walk.
As if that wasn’t enough to etch his name in the annals of Yankees legend, Schlittler fired 11 pitches in the game that clocked in at 100 mph or faster.
Is Schlittler Injured in Spring Training Now?
Coming into spring training, the Yankees and their fans held high hopes that Schlittler, with just 16 major league starts, including playoff games, under his belt, would line up with last year’s Cy Young candidate Max Fried and 2023 Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole, plus 2025 18-game winner Carlos Rodón and 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil to form what appeared to be an unhittable starting rotation.
Those dreams appeared to be, if not crushed, then severely dampened when Schlittler was shut down in the first week of spring training by two separate injuries â inflammation in his back and what the Yankees called “discomfort” in his left lat muscle, according to an NJ.com report.
The Yankees appear to be unconcerned about Schlittler’s injuries. Manager Aaron Boone said on Thursday that the Yankees pitching phenom “should be ready for the beginning of the season.”
Why the optimism, given that as of Friday, Schlittler had still not thrown in a Grapefruit League game, with Opening Day on the road in San Francisco just 27 days away? Is it possible that the Yankees are not telling the whole truth about Schlittler’s injuries?
That’s what one longtime analyst for the Yankees site Bleeding Yankee Blue wants to know.
What Is the True Extent of Schlittler’s Injuries?
Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa, senior managing editor of Bleeding Yankee Blue, made clear in an analysis published Thursday that she was not buying Boone’s sunny assessment of Schlittler’s condition.
“I’m trying not to think the worst here, but we are talking about the Yankees here. Something doesn’t feel right about Cam Schlittler’s ailment. First, it was minor back inflammation, but now there’s also lat discomfort. I have alarm bells going off,” Bellezza-Ochoa wrote. “Lat discomfort is tough, and it is very rarely minor.”
The writer said that Boone’s reassurance “sounds like a load of Baboonie crap to me because it’s very unconvincing.”
The BYB analyst cited similar lat injuries to Yankees pitchers Luis Severino in 2019 and 2023 and Clarke Schmidt in 2024. Both were shut down for months. Severino pitched in only three games in 2019, while 2017 first-round draft pick Schmidt was limited to 16 in 2024.
“It’s early in spring,” Bellezza-Ochoa concluded. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be following this storyline like a hawk. I just hope the Yankees aren’t lying to us.”
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