The Baseball Writers Association of America announced that Cam Schlittler has won the AL Cy Young award. The Yankees ace appeared at the top on all 30 ballots. Toronto’s Dylan Cease is runner-up, while Cleveland rookie Parker Messick finished in third place.
To the extent there was any suspense about this result, it was only whether Schlittler’s win would be unanimous. The 6’6″ righty had a dominant first full season in the big leagues. Schlittler made 33 starts and fired 193 2/3 innings of 1.95 ERA ball. He was the only qualified pitcher in the AL with a sub-2.00 mark. Schlittler was second in the league behind Michael Wacha in innings and third — behind Gavin Williams and Cease — with 239 strikeouts. Only Williams had a higher difference between his strikeout and walk rates.
Schlittler finished with a 14-6 record; the Yankees went 21-12 in his starts overall. He led AL pitchers in Wins Above Replacement at both FanGraphs (6.2) and Baseball Reference (7.0). It’s a convincing case in terms of both traditional and advanced metrics that left little doubt that Schlittler would earn his first Cy Young honors. He also earned his first All-Star selection over the summer.
The Yankees already had a trio of potential top-of-the-rotation starters in Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón. Schlittler has quickly ascended to the #1 spot, getting the nod for Game 1 of their Wild Card Series against Boston. He held his hometown Red Sox scoreless over 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts to get the win. Schlittler wasn’t as dominant in his second and final playoff appearance, as the Rays got him for four runs (two earned) across 4 1/3 innings. Schlittler’s defense didn’t do him any favors in that outing, but he only recorded two strikeouts among 23 batters faced.
Despite all the talent in the New York staff, Schlittler should be in line for his first Opening Day start in 2027. He’s under club control for another five seasons. Schlittler becomes the seventh player in franchise history to win the Cy Young dating back to its inception in 1956. Bob Turley (1958), Whitey Ford (1961), Sparky Lyle (1977), Ron Guidry (1978), Roger Clemens (2001), and Cole (2023) also won the award in pinstripes.
Cease was second in the AL in ERA (2.40) and strikeouts (239) while leading qualifiers with a 34.9% strikeout rate. The only slight hangup is that he was limited to 169 innings between a May hamstring strain and some late-season shoulder fatigue. It’s the second time in his career that he’s a Cy Young runner-up and his third finish in the top five. The Jays couldn’t have asked for more in the first season of a seven-year contract.
Messick also finished as runner-up in AL Rookie of the Year voting. He was third among AL qualifiers in ERA (2.56) and fourth in innings (186 1/3). Messick doesn’t have quite the same swing-and-miss stuff as Schlittler and Cease bring to the table, but he recorded an above-average 26% strikeout rate against a modest 6.6% walk rate. Messick earned the Guardians a 2027 draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive by finishing top three in Cy Young voting within his first three seasons. (Schlittler was not eligible for the PPI pick because he wasn’t a Top 100 prospect and the Yankees didn’t carry him on the MLB roster for a full season as a rookie in 2025.)
Cease received 22 second-place votes. Messick picked up seven, while the other went to fourth place finisher Drew Rasmussen. No one else appeared higher than fourth on any individual ballot. Sonny Gray rounded out the top five. Reid Detmers, Cade Smith, Bryan Baker and Wacha also appeared on at least one ballot.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images.
