Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler wins AL Cy Young Award

Cam Schlittler was the unanimous choice to win the American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night, becoming the second New York Yankees pitcher to receive the honor in the last four years.

Gerrit Cole won it with the Yankees in 2023 before Tarik Skubal won the last two AL Cy Young Awards while pitching for Detroit. Cole had been the first Yankee to win the award since Roger Clemens in 2001.

The award is voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

“Cam had as dominant a season as a starting pitcher can have from start to finish,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in a statement. “He’s shown an astonishing amount of growth since we drafted him, and his success is no accident. 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.”

Toronto’s Louis Varland won the AL reliever of the year award. This marks the first year that the BBWAA has voted on a reliever of the year.

Schlittler, 25, went 14-6 with an AL-leading 1.95 ERA that ranked third in Yankees’ history, behind Spud Chandler (1.64 in 1943) and Ron Guidry (1.74 in 1978). Schlittler’s 239 strikeouts tied for second in the AL with Toronto’s Dylan Cease, behind the 248 from Cleveland’s Gavin Williams.

This was his first full season in the big leagues after he made his MLB debut in the summer of 2025.

Schlittler received all 30 first-place votes. The runner-up was Cease, who went 11-6 with a 2.40 ERA. Cleveland’s Parker Messick finished third after going 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 186 1/3 innings.

Cease was the second-place selection of 22 of the 30 voters. Messick got seven second-place votes. The other second-place vote went to Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen, who finished fourth in the voting.

This was the second runner-up finish for Cease, who also placed second while pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 2022.

Varland won the reliever of the year award after going 5-6 with a 1.27 ERA, 35 saves and 97 strikeouts in 78 innings. The other two finalists were Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker and Cleveland’s Cade Smith.

The NL Cy Young Award winner and reliever of the year winner will be announced later Wednesday. Cy Young Award finalists are Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez and Atlanta’s Chris Sale.

Misiorowski went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 174 2/3 innings. Sánchez was 18-7 with a 2.91 ERA and 231 strikeouts in 207 innings. Sale, who won the Cy Young Award in 2024, went 14-9 with a 2.16 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 162 2/3 innings.

NL finalists for the reliever of the year award are Philadelphia’s Jhoan Duran, Milwaukee’s Trevor Megill and San Diego’s Mason Miller.

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Steve Megargee, The Associated Press