Young Yankees hurler Cam Schlittler took a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What is your definition of an ace?
A: I think an ace is someone who has had a lot of experience, has been very successful, stayed consistent and healthy for a long period of time. An ace is someone that is a battle-proven. … Consistency through the season, has success in the postseason whether they win a championship or not, they’ve shown that they can play at the highest level.
Q: Do you aspire to be an ace? Do you see yourself now as an ace?
A: Think the goal for any starting pitcher, right? is to have ace-like qualities. It’s not the minors where you’re kind of competing against your other starters, right? At the end of the day you’re just trying to win games, and if you can get five guys that can do that, that’s really all that matters. When I look at this team, I see three aces between Gerrit [Cole], Carlos [Rodón] and Max [Fried], and then you have some of the younger guys like me, Will [Warren] and Ryan [Weathers] who are trying to make a name for ourselves but also trying to be consistent enough to stay in the rotation and help the team win games. You do want to be an ave, but that also depends how everything shapes up, the team and the guys that are next to me.
Q: What would winning a Cy Young mean to you?
A: You have these goals at the beginning of the year. For me, it was kind of more of getting back to the postseason, staying consistent, healthy all season long, making all my starts, having a full season in the major leagues, and then turning that over to the postseason and continuing to build off the success I had last year. Again, that’s something that’s not controllable right now, but you build up good starts and I keep pitching the way I am, that’s something that could definitely be a possibility.
Q: How would you describe your mentality on the mound?
A: The mentality’s always kind of been that underdog mindset of competing and trying to kind of prove everyone wrong. I don’t think I really came from much, wasn’t really a highly touted prospect, king of under the radar, fans didn’t know about me. Obviously I make my way up, people that are really into it start to kind of see the success I’ve had in the minors, but you come up kind of in the brightest spotlight of kind of any sport, and they’re looking for success right away. For me it’s kind of just being calm and collected out there, but also having that kind of F-you mentality of, “I’m going to prove these guys wrong and make sure they know who I am when the game’s over.”
Q: That F-you mentality was obvious last October against the Red Sox, wasn’t it?
A: For sure.
Q: What is that like when you have that F-you mentality on steroids that night?
A: I feel like I’ve handled things pretty well when it comes to being on the big leagues and then to take care of myself on and off the field. Social media has never really been a distraction before that. They kind of brought that out in me. Not the players, I have nothing against the players, I know some of these guys, I played with some of them in the minors that are here now, it was really nothing towards them, but some of the things the fans did before the game kind of brought that out on me.
In terms of being locked in, I was so locked in because I was giving my hometown team, and I know my friends are going to give me s–t or whatever it is if I lose, and I go home [Walpole, Mass.] in the offseason I probably hear that for three months straight, and I was like, “I can’t let that happen.” But just in terms of how they were treating me and my family before the game it just kind of made it a lot easier to go out there and just kind of like … stare into a dark hole. … I wasn’t thinking about anything, I was just going out there and I was pitching and I was so confident in myself and the guys behind me that the success level was a lot higher than I thought it could have been.
Q: Could you elaborate on staring into a dark hole?
A: You get into these places, like these mindsets before starts, or out there on the mound that you’re not really … it’s kind of like a blank space. For me, when I perform at the highest level, I’m not thinking about anything. When I’m out there and I’m pissed, it’s just a hole that like there’s no end to it. There’s nothing that can possibly make it better when you’re out there. It didn’t matter how successful I was that game, in the fifth inning, I could care less what’s happening, by the fifth inning I was like, “I’m going to go back out there and do the same thing again, over and over until” — obviously I was done after the eighth inning, but like there was no success, even after the game really, that could like put me in a better state of mind.
Q: The idea I would guess is to recapture that mentality for every start.
A: Yeah, I’m not going to lie, I don’t think I had that last start, and I had my worst start in four months in the bigs dating back to like last August. You have a team like Cleveland that comes in here, now they hate us. Now I don’t know anything about that rivalry because I wasn’t on the team in ’24 when they beat ’em in the playoffs. They’re chirping me from the dugout, they’re locked in, they’re excited to face me, be in New York, beat this team, and I didn’t really know that going into the series. I wish I was facing them next week, so I can kind have that extra edge that I didn’t have Tuesday, and it can be frustrating. But again, you take those outings with a grain of salt and you learn from them and something now, I already have extra motivation for this weekend because it’s Boston, but just based off how my last start went, it should be a little but easier to get in that stage of mind.
Q: When you’re in that state of mind, is the best adjective fearlessness? Meanness? Defiance?
A: Fearless is a good one … defiance is good. I feel like it can be a mix of a couple of things. I think fearless is probably the easiest way to put it in terms of like, I’m in New York, the fans are loud, right?, and there’s so much pressure for success that it does not bother me at all when I walk out there. Even though they’re all expecting greatness, that’s not an issue for me. I feel the most comfortable I ever feel when I’m out on that mound in terms of my career and then how things are going.
Q: Why don’t you feel pressure?
A: I feel like I’ve always been able to block things out pretty well. But I also expect greatness out of myself, so when other people expect excellence, whether their opinions are good or bad it’s not going to matter because I’m so hard on myself that it’s like I go out there, I expect to have quality starts and dominate lineups, so for me the outside noise doesn’t matter because I’m so on myself … not on myself in a way that I can be too hard on myself where that could be a negative output. … It doesn’t matter, when the game’s going on and there’s 40,000 fans there, I don’t even hear them. I’m out there and again, it’s just a blank space and I can just go pitch and I’m confident and comfortable in myself because I was born to do this.
Q: You were born to do this.
A: For sure. You grow up, you’re playing sports whatever, baseball I could tell when I was younger, and even my parents, they could tell that was kind of the sport for me. I wasn’t that good in high school. I had so much to learn and really needed to still develop on college [Northeastern], still developed in the minor leagues, and I knew at those levels that I was nowhere near my full potential. I just had to continue to work hard to find that. … I’ve been able to get the success while developing, but to even get the success now at the highest level is really the most important thing.
Q: What drives you?
A: When I first got drafted, I think proving to the front office that I belong was something that kind of pushed me a little bit. Being a seventh-rounder, which really isn’t even that bad, but not a prospect, not really highly-viewed in the system yet. I had to prove to them that I was willing to put the work in to put weight on and fix the mechanics and continue to improve at that stuff every day. I showed them that I was willing to listen to them and put their trust in them to help me succeed on the field. That’s exactly what I did. … There’s things about being an athlete in New York that you see with [Derek] Jeter, CC [Sabathia] or any of the other guys that have made an impact and won championships. … They kind of treat you like a god … when you do things in a way that you earn their respect, right? Now Aaron Judge obviously has done that, now obviously the end goal is to win a championship. That’s going to cement him as probably one of the greatest Yankees of all time. The motivation to succeed in New York and be on the right side of history is really kind of the one thing I’m looking at when I’m out there and I’m building good starts every five or six days. That’s the goal, is to play your whole career in New York for … 13 years, win championships, and kind of earn the trust of the people of this city.
Q: What is the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?
A: I think the noise is something that you have to learn to ignore. I would say I probably put myself in that position at the end of last year with Boston fans, Toronto fans, whatever it is. At the end of the day that stuff doesn’t bother me. You have to kind of block that stuff out.
Is it immature slightly? Yes for sure. Could I have handled it better? Definitely. Did I really care at the time? No. As you come to realize now, you don’t want to be known as the guy that’s going to go talk s–t on the Internet, and cause scenes and make the front office not trust you and have that become distractions for your teammates — not saying that’s what I did. But if you continued to head down that path, those are the obstacles that you can face.
Yeah there’s a lot of noise. There’s a lot of people that want me to fail, if I have one slipup on the mound, I’m going to hear it for a week straight. It’s funny that it’s taken people almost three months now to do that, but that’s something that you gotta overcome, even though I dug myself a little bit of a hole, I’m comfortable being in that hole, and it’s not something that’s going to frustrate or bother me, but being able to handle the adversity of people that literally want the worst for you to just kind of go out there and block it out and trust in your teammates and the fans of this city to have your back.
Q: What one pitch do you hope to improve?
A: I’d say the cutter’s probably the pitch I’ve made the most improvement on. I’m not really too worried about my arsenal right now, I’m kind of really happy where it’s at.
Q: Why are you so fond of Gerrit?
A: I’m fond of all our starters, but Gerrit’s been “the guy.” You get drafted at 22, you don’t notice it back then as much, but when you get up here you realize that you’ve had conversations with your buddies, “Oh man, how cool would it be to be in a rotation with Gerrit Cole?” I’m like, “Well, I just got drafted, I might be waiting a couple of years, it’s hard to get up in the Yankee system.” I didn’t get to see him pitch last year, I saw him pitch for the first time two weeks ago — he did exactly what I thought he was going to do.
He’s very knowledgeable, he knows the game very well, he’s serious when it comes to preparing for his starts, but he’s also looking out for the other guys in here. When I’m throwing or Will’s throwing, he’s not on us, but he’s watching closely and he’s seeing if there’s anything that he has recommendations, I’m always open to that criticism whether it’s good or bad to make adjustments in a game and I think that’s something he really handles well.
Q: Describe the New York Yankee Way.
A: A championship mindset … leaders in the clubhouse. And you got to push yourself every day to get better and succeed you gotta do the little things right. When I got drafted those are kind of the pillars they had in terms of what it takes to be a Yankee.
Q: You live in Manhattan.
A: I like the peace and quiet there, I don’t really get bothered much.
Q: If you keep winning games you’ll be getting marriage proposals.
A: Yeah I don’t know. I just turned 25. I’m single, living in the best city in the world. I think every off day we’ve had I’ve been at the field that day playing batch or getting some type of work in. I’m really just focused on winning a championship and staying healthy, so probably going to have to hold off for a couple of years (smile).
Q: If you could go back in time and face one MLB hitter, who would it be?
A: Probably Barry Bonds on the ’roids. I want to see how that would look.
Q: You could duel one pitcher …
A: Maybe Andy Pettitte because I know him really well, and he is a stud.
Q: The Yankees drafted you one spot after the Red Sox.
A: The Red Sox don’t draft out of New England, that’s just not their thing. The regional scout there, he’s always with the regional scout of the Yankees, but I’ve never (laugh) seen him draft a New England guy, and that’s not really a shot at then, that’s just not what they do. The Yankees don’t do it either, but once or twice a year, they’re going to grab a New England guy, especially a pitcher, they love that, they love the late bloomers that they can develop into like perennial arms or whatever it is, that’s something they’re known for. I could care less really that the Sox had the pick before, like I never really had that relationship with them because that’s not something they’ve ever done.
Q: You were at the Garden for the Knicks first playoff win against the Hawks.
A: They’re 2-0 when I’ve been there, which is a great feeling. I’ve heard always good things about MSG, growing up obviously I’d never been there before. It’s a really good experience, the environment’s great, playoff basketball is something special here. I was able to talk to Josh Hart as well after the game, so that was a nice conversation. He’s a great guy, I know he loves baseball as well. They’re on a roll right now so I hope they can finish it off.
Q: What do you think of Jalen Brunson?
A: Yeah, he’s great, he’s a superstar, and it’s really fun to watch.
Q: You expect the Knicks to finish it off?
A: Yeah, kind of bummed that there’s not going to be an opportunity for me to get to a game.
Q: Your tattoos of your maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather.
A: My Mimi, she’s on my right arm, I was super close with her. She’d be the one that would pick me up from school or at the doctor’s office. I felt the best way to kind of keep her with me — she didn’t get to see my chase my dreams. Being able to have her on the most important of my body is kind of a way I can do that. I had a great relationship with him. He [John or Papa] didn’t get to see me chase my dreams. Mimi’s on the right, Papa’s on the left. For me to have them on there, and the days they passed, is definitely special to me and my family.
Q: Your father is the Needham Chief of Police.
A: He’s always kind of been that blue-collar, he always worked hard. He carried that down to me and my brother and my sister, he’s kind of showed us how to act, to be humble, and that’s something I try to live by. He’s tough on me, he’s always pushed me to be better. You’re not going to see the benefits of that when you’re 10-, 15-, 18-years old, you kind of just get annoyed by it, but as you grow up you realize that if he didn’t push me the way he did, I probably wouldn’t be in this situation.
Q: You have a cat.
A: Right now she’s still in Boston. I kind of feel bad leaving her alone in New York because I don’t have anyone to watch her. Right now I’m entrusting her to my parents, but she likes it there.
Q: What’s her name?
A: Arya from “Game of Thrones.”
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Hayden Christensen, Adam Sandler, Margot Robbie.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.”
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Strip steak.
Q: On a scale of 1-10, please rate these: Schlitti Field.
A: I’d give it an 8.
Q: New York Schlitti.
A: That’s a 9.
Q: Schlitt happens.
A: I hear that one a lot. I’ll give it an 8.
Q: Holy Schlitt!
A: Yeah, I hear that one probably the most, I’ll give that a 9.
Q: Describe pitching in October for the New York Yankees.
A: Every two-strike count everyone’s standing up, they’re screaming, it’s electric. That’s the stuff you kind of dream of as a kid.
Q: How do you compensate for the loss of Judge?
A: It’s frustrating. … I call him Cap, that’s the only thing I call him. I think he’s in a good place, and we got others on this team they are going to be able to step up. You can’t fill the hole, but we have a really good lineup of guys that are going to be able to try to and put us in positions to win games. At the end of the day, you just got to have faith in the training staff and the coaches and the front office that whatever is going on with him, they’re going to handle it the right way, and hopefully he’s back before we make a deep playoff run.
Q: Is this a championship team when Judge gets back?
A: For sure. Again, it’s hard to say it’s a championship team without Judge, but I’m very confident in the guys we have right now to take it to the playoffs. The whole run-it-back thing, I think it’s funny because I thought we had a really good team last year, and I think we had some additions this year, whether guys leaving or whatever it was. I think the team that we came into this season is a great roster and I expect a lot of success out of these guys, and I know they expect the same lot of me. Very close-knit group, the energy and the vibes in the locker room are excellent, and we have a lot of faith in each other. Be nice to get Judge back, a month or two or whatever it is, and go on a run and finish the job we couldn’t finish last year.
Q: So don’t count out the Yankees.
A: No you can’t. You never can. You never can.
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