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Cam Schlittler gets positive news

The New York Yankees have the top two Cy Young frontrunners after the injury to Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.

Entering the season, Skubal and Boston Red Sox’s ace Garrett Crochet were the two front-runners. However, Skubal and Crochet are both injured, while Crochet got off to a horrible start.

Following the news that Skubal is undergoing surgery and will be out for a couple of months, Yankees starter Cam Schlittler is now the favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award.

Schlittler has odds of +230 to win the award, which implies a 30.3% chance to win the Cy Young. Meanwhile, fellow Yankees starter Max Fried has the second-best odds of +290, which implies a 25.6% chance.

Schlittler being the Cy Young favorite in May is a surprise, as he’s in his first full MLB season. However, the Yankees starter has been stellar since making his debut, as last season, he went 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts.

This season, Schlittler is 5-1 with a 1.52 ERA in 8 starts, and batters are hitting just .187 against him. Schlittler has been dominant, and if he can continue to pitch this well, he could very well win the AL Cy Young Award in his first full MLB season.

Schlittler Has Another Dominant Outing

The Yankees gave the ball to Schlittler on Monday in the series finale against the Baltimore Orioles, and he had another dominant outing.

Schlittler went 5.2 innings, allowing 1 run while striking out 4. Although he didn’t go as deep in the game as he wanted, he was still pleased with his performance.

“I felt good,” Schlittler said. “Just looking at the timing part of it, the mechanics and the leg lift, I was able to put those two together and see those results.”

Schlittler, meanwhile, topped his career-high in velocity six times in the outing, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone believes the right-hander changed something in his mechanics.

“I think he discovered something delivery-wise that got him a little more power,” Boone said. “He was having a little bit of a hard time harnessing it at the level he’s used to. There were a handful of pitches that didn’t do exactly what he was expecting, but he was electric.”

There was a brief injury scare, however, as Schlittler was clipped in the back of his left leg by a Blaze Alexander comebacker in the third inning. However, he didn’t seem too concerned about it.

“It hit the hamstring, the little bit of meat I have,” Schlittler said. “I’m not really concerned about it. It didn’t affect anything.”

The Yankees selected Schlittler in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft and signed him for just $205,000.

Skubal Out for Months

Skubal was the frontrunner to win the AL Cy Young Award, but he’s now expected to miss a couple of months.

Although Skubal has to undergo surgery, he said he’s fine and is confident he will be back.

“From my understanding, you just go take it out,” Skubal told MLB.com. “I think length of the rehab is probably just getting your spring training buildup up again, getting your volume up. But the procedure itself, I think, is pretty simple as far as what I’ve been explained.”

Skubal was 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 7 starts this season before the injury.