Through his first nine starts of the 2026 season, Cam Schlittler struck out 59 batters, walked nine, gave up exactly one home run, and posted a 1.35 ERA. Run those four numbers together and you get a line no pitcher had matched through nine starts since Walter Johnson did it in 1913. Not "since a hot rookie a few years back." Since Walter Johnson, when the ball was still half dead and gloves looked like they belonged in a kitchen drawer.
The Numbers, Again, Slower
I want to sit with that for a second because it's easy to read a "since 1913" stat, nod, and move on. Fifty-plus strikeouts. Fewer than ten walks. One homer allowed in nine turns through big league lineups. An ERA that rounds down to 1. That's not a hot streak -- a hot streak is three good starts in a row. This is more than a month and a half of a 25-year-old doing something the sport hasn't seen from anyone since a Hall of Famer who's been dead since 1946.
That's the stat. Here's how he built it.
| Strikeouts (first 9 starts) | 59 |
| Walks (first 9 starts) | 9 |
| Home Runs Allowed (first 9 starts) | 1 |
| ERA (first 9 starts) | 1.35 |
| Last Pitcher to Match It | Walter Johnson, 1913 |
| Stretch Completed | April 1 -- May 9, 2026 |
| ERA (through Aug. 2, 2026) | 2.07, 157 K, 10-6 |
How It Started
The stretch opened on April 1 at Seattle, where Schlittler threw 6.1 shutout innings and allowed two hits. He backed it up in his next turn, and by the end of those first two starts he'd thrown 11.2 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts and zero walks -- the first time a Yankee had opened a season with back-to-back outings of at least five scoreless innings and seven strikeouts apiece. That's a nice trivia answer on its own (the kind of line that gets buried in a season recap by August, if nobody backs it up). It turned out to be the opening act.
The Start That Finished It
Start number nine landed on May 9 at Milwaukee, and it almost didn't stay pretty. Brewers catcher William Contreras led off the bottom of the first by ripping a 108.5 mph comebacker off Schlittler's left calf. He stayed in the game -- struck out the next hitter, Jake Bauers, on a 98 mph fastball to end the inning, got the leg wrapped between innings, and kept pitching like it hadn't happened.
It's the kind of moment that tells you more about a pitcher than a strikeout total does.
He finished six innings, allowed two hits, struck out six, walked nobody, and didn't let a Brewers runner get past first base all night. That outing dropped his ERA to a major league-best 1.35 and closed out the Walter Johnson-matching stretch. "Not really concerned," Schlittler said afterward, adding that the warmup tosses right after getting hit "weren't too encouraging, but I was able to settle in after that." (Milwaukee rallied late and won 4-3 in 10 innings, which is its own kind of injustice -- the Yankees lost a game their starter basically pitched flawlessly.)
What Came Next Wasn't a Fluke
If the stretch through May 9 had been the whole story, you could squint and call it a hot start that was bound to cool. It didn't. On June 19 against the Reds at the Stadium, Schlittler struck out a career-high 13 batters over six scoreless innings, walking nobody, in a 5-0 Yankees win -- the team's eighth shutout of the season. He was the first Yankee to reach 13 strikeouts in a game since Max Fried did it against Baltimore back in September 2025. Sixty-six of his 96 pitches were strikes. That's not a guy riding a cold April -- that's a guy who kept getting better.
Season Opens With a Shutout
Schlittler throws 6.1 shutout innings against the Mariners at Seattle to open his 2026 campaign, allowing just two hits.
Back-to-Back to Start the Year
His first two starts combine for 11.2 scoreless innings, 15 strikeouts, and zero walks -- the first time a Yankee had opened a season that way.
Struck by a Comebacker, Finishes the Job
A 108.5 mph line drive off William Contreras' bat hits Schlittler's calf in Milwaukee. He stays in, throws 6 shutout innings, and lowers his ERA to a major league-best 1.35 -- completing the nine-start stretch that matched Walter Johnson's 1913 mark.
Career-High 13 Strikeouts
Schlittler strikes out 13 Reds hitters over six scoreless innings with zero walks in a 5-0 win, the first Yankee to reach 13 K's in a game since Max Fried in 2025.
All-Star, By Invitation Only
Named to his first All-Star team off a 2.08 ERA and 123 strikeouts at the break, Schlittler chooses not to pitch in the game at Citizens Bank Park to protect a rotation already thinned by injuries.
Turning Down the All-Star Game
By the break, Schlittler had a 2.08 ERA, 123 strikeouts, and the Yankees were 12-6 in his starts. He made his first All-Star team -- and then decided not to pitch in it. No injury. Boone was clear on that. He just didn't want to throw close to max effort on what would've been a throw day, with Gerrit Cole still building back up from Tommy John surgery, Max Fried working his way back from his own elbow issue, and Carlos Rodón freshly on the IL with elbow inflammation.
"The staff's had a lot of injuries this year, so between Gerrit and Max and now Carlos, I don't want to put that risk in there of letting the team down," Schlittler said. He still made the trip to Philadelphia -- he just spent it as Ben Rice's Gatorade guy during the Home Run Derby instead of throwing a bullpen. A 25-year-old skipping his first All-Star Game to protect a bullpen day is the kind of quietly team-first decision that doesn't show up in a box score. (It probably should.)
By the Aug. 2-3 trade deadline checkpoint, the full-season line had settled at 2.07 ERA, 157 strikeouts, a 10-6 record, and a 0.93 WHIP -- second in the AL in ERA, third in WHIP. The rate stats came up slightly off that 1.35 low, which is exactly what you'd expect over a longer sample. The strikeout total just kept climbing.
Where This Fits
Less than a year before any of this, Schlittler was a rookie the Yankees had never trusted with a full season, let alone a start this good. His introduction to October came in Wild Card Game 3 against Boston, when he threw eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts and zero walks in an elimination game. That was one start. This is a stretch of nine, against lineups that had a scouting report on him by the third one, and the numbers are somehow just as clean. Whatever the Yankees saw in a seventh-round pick out of Northeastern, it's showing up now in a way that's hard to argue with.
The 2026 Yankees spent a chunk of the summer without Aaron Judge, without Giancarlo Stanton for stretches, and eventually without Cody Bellinger too. A rookie-turned-ace running off the best statistical stretch a starter's had since the Wilson administration is a pretty specific way for a team to stay afloat through all of that. He wasn't drafted to be the guy holding a rotation together in year two. He's just turned out to be exactly that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Cam Schlittler do in his first nine starts of the 2026 season?
Schlittler struck out 59 batters, walked nine, allowed one home run, and posted a 1.35 ERA across his first nine starts (April 1 through May 9, 2026) -- a combination of benchmarks no pitcher had matched since Walter Johnson in 1913.
How is Cam Schlittler's start compared to Walter Johnson's 1913 season?
The comparison isn't about full-season totals -- it's a specific combination through a pitcher's first nine starts: 50-plus strikeouts, fewer than 10 walks, no more than one home run allowed, and an ERA under 1.50. Per Opta Stats, Schlittler (59 K, 9 BB, 1 HR, 1.35 ERA) was the first pitcher to hit all four marks in that span since Walter Johnson did it in 1913.
What happened when Cam Schlittler got hit by a comebacker in Milwaukee?
On May 9, 2026, Brewers catcher William Contreras hit a 108.5 mph line drive off Schlittler's left calf in the first inning. Schlittler stayed in the game, struck out the next batter, and finished six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to a major league-best 1.35. The Yankees still lost the game 4-3 in 10 innings.
Why didn't Cam Schlittler pitch in the 2026 All-Star Game?
Schlittler was healthy and named to his first All-Star team, but chose not to pitch to protect a Yankees rotation already thinned by injuries to Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodón. He still attended the festivities in Philadelphia, serving as Ben Rice's "Gatorade guy" during the Home Run Derby.
What was Cam Schlittler's best strikeout game of the 2026 season?
On June 19, 2026, Schlittler struck out a career-high 13 batters over six scoreless innings against the Reds without issuing a walk, in a 5-0 Yankees win. He became the first Yankee to reach 13 strikeouts in a game since Max Fried did it in September 2025.