Yankees’ Game 3 Pitcher Shares Surprising Story About Family’s Red Sox Fandom
With their season on the line in Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series tonight, the New York Yankees will turn to a former Boston Red Sox fan to help get them over the hump.
Cam Schlittler, 24, will start Game 3 at Yankee Stadium against his hometown team. Like teammate Ben Rice, he’s a former Massachusetts kid who now wears the pinstripes.
Schlittler was raised in Walpole, played college ball at Northeastern University and played in the Cape Cod League, spending most of his life in Massachusetts surrounded by Red Sox fans. That changed, however, when the Yankees drafted him in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft.
Schlittler debuted this year and has been excellent in his first season with New York, going 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 73 innings. He’ll look to build on that campaign tonight in his postseason debut.
After several years in the Yankees organization, he’s surprisingly managed to get much of his Boston-loving family to support the Red Sox’s archrival — a truly difficult and impressive feat.
“Growing up in Boston, I take pride in being from Boston,” Schlittler told reporters prior to Game 2. “When it came to my career and where I want to be, this is where I want to be. They’re full Yankee guys now. They don’t wear it as much around Boston, but when they’re here, they’re really prideful about it.”
Schlittler’s family will presumably be rooting for him and his teammates to prevail tonight and punch their ticket to the ALDS, where the Toronto Blue Jays await.
This will be Schlittler’s first time pitching against the Red Sox, as he did not face them in the regular season. He’ll face fellow rookie Connelly Early (1-2, 2.33 ERA) in this win-or-go-home clash.