Yankees' Cam Schlittler unanimously wins American League Cy Young Award

Cam Schlittler allowed one hit and struck out eight over 5 1⁄3 innings in his first start of the season, March 27 in San Francisco, in a 3-0 victory over the Giants.

There would be more outings resembling it to come.

Many, many more.

As a result, Schlittler, who came out of the gate hot in 2026 and finished the season the same, became the seventh Yankees pitcher to capture the American League Cy Young, winning the award in a landslide in voting results announced Wednesday night.

Schlittler, who went 14-6 with a league-low 1.95 ERA and who struck out 239 batters in 193 2⁄3 innings over 33 starts, captured all 30 first-place votes for a total of 210 points. Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays garnered 22 second-place votes in finishing runner-up with 110 points.

“The goal coming into the season was to be healthy, be consistent and make all my starts, and that was something I was able to do,” Schlittler, a native of Walpole, Massachusetts, said from his parents’ home in Walpole during a conference call with reporters. “It’s a very special night for us here.”

Schlittler, 25, became the second Yankee to win the AL Cy Young in three seasons (Gerrit Cole won it in 2023), and the third Yankee to win the award unanimously (Cole in ’23 and Ron Guidry in 1978).

Schlittler, who started the 2025 season with Double-A Somerset, had little in the way of hiccups in 2026, his first full season in the majors.

The heat-throwing Schlittler, whose arsenal features three fastballs and a curveball that by season’s end proved almost as unhittable as his hard stuff, allowed one run or fewer in 21 of his 33 starts. He allowed one earned run or fewer in each of his last nine outings, posting a 1.17 ERA in that stretch.

That allowed Schlittler to finish with the third-lowest ERA in a single season by a qualified Yankees pitcher, trailing only Spud Chandler (1.64) in 1943 and Guidry (1.74) in 1978.

“He bought into everything that we were selling from strength and conditioning to pitch profile, and he just turned himself into a beast with his work ethic and desire to be great and, obviously, he added velocity that exceeded probably any of our expectations,” GM Brian Cashman said Tuesday in Las Vegas during media availability at MLB’s annual general managers meetings. “He’s pitched to the top of our rotation, and he deserves to win the Cy Young.”

Schlittler’s 239 strikeouts, in a career-high 193 2⁄3 innings, were the second-most in the AL this season. The total tied him with Jack Chesbro (1904) for the fourth-most by a Yankee in a single season in franchise history, trailing Cole’s 257 strikeouts in 2022, Guidry’s 248 in 1978 and Cole’s 243 in 2021.

Schlittler allowed three or fewer runs in 29 of his 33 starts, tying him for third-most in a single season in franchise history — with Whitey Ford (1963), Stan Bahnsen (1968) and Mel Stottlemyre (1969) — and trailing only Chesbro’s 40 such games in 1904 and Guidry’s 30 in 1978.

The righty pitched at least six innings in 20 of his starts — tying for eighth-most in the majors and third in the AL. He went beyond six innings 11 times, including seven starts of at least seven innings and three of at least eight.

Schlittler allowed four hits or fewer in 23 of his starts, tied for the most in the majors (and tied for first in AL), and he allowed three hits or fewer in 15 starts.

As impressive as the year was, Schlittler, who carries himself with as much self-confidence as any player in the Yankees clubhouse but mixes that with plenty of self-deprecation and a deference to veteran teammates, a combination that made him exceedingly popular in the clubhouse, said there was room for “improvement.”

“I definitely could have had a better season,” Schlittler said, referencing his ability to make better in-game “adjustments” but also making a bigger-picture reference to the season’s disappointing “finish,” which occurred in a three-game loss to the Rays in the ALDS.

That loss, of course, could not be pinned on Schlittler. He’s 18-9 with a 2.23 ERA overall in his 1 ½ big-league seasons, but the pitcher has been even better in the playoffs, going 2-2 with a 1.44 ERA in four October outings.

“He’s shown an astonishing amount of growth since we drafted him, and his success is no accident,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in a statement. “Cam has a tireless appetite for hard work and refinement that has allowed his talents to truly flourish. This Cy Young is richly deserved. Cam was the most dominant pitcher in our league and continues to grow into a foundational player for this franchise.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.