It didn’t take long for Cam Schlittler to demonstrate his scintillating stuff.
On the sixth pitch of his MLB career, the flame-throwing Yankees rookie lit up the radar gun with a 99.9-mph fastball.
Ten pitches later, Schlittler hit 100 mph.
And just like that, Schlittler’s MLB debut was off to a scorching start.
The prized prospect lived up to the hype in Wednesday night’s 9-6 win over the Seattle Mariners in the Bronx.
Schlittler limited the Mariners to three runs over 5.1 innings and recorded seven strikeouts, including two against MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh, to earn the win.
“It’s been my goal my whole life,” Schlittler said, “so it’s really good to go out there and put the team in a position to win and live out that dream.”
With his parents, girlfriend and a large contingent of cousins and friends in the stands, Schlittler recorded his first career strikeout in the first inning when he froze Raleigh with a 99.6-mph four-seamer.
“You see his stuff really plays,” manager Aaron Boone said, “and I thought his calm and his poise and focus was excellent.”
Schlittler’s fastball averaged 97.9 mph, and he finished six of his strikeouts with the pitch.
But the 6-6 right-hander also mixed in a cutter, sweeper and curveball. Afterward, Boone raved about Schlittler’s secondary offerings.
“It was really good to see it, because that’s been the next wave,” Boone said. “How good is his secondary stuff gonna be as complementary pieces? That might be the thing that raises his ceiling in what he can potentially do.”
A pair of solo home runs — by J.P. Crawford in the third inning and Jorge Polanco in the fourth — dinged Schlittler, but it was an otherwise excellent debut for the 24-year-old.
He punctuated his outing with his second strikeout of Raleigh, who swung through a 98.1-mph fastball on Schlittler’s 75th and final pitch of the night.
A Yankee Stadium crowd of 35,651 showered Schlittler with a loud ovation as he exited the game.
“I probably had more jitters this morning, honestly, waking up,” Schlittler said. “Once I got to the field and was around everyone, I felt better about it.”
Originally a seventh-round pick out of Northeastern in 2022, Schlittler opened eyes during spring training with his big fastball and poise, repeatedly pitching against lineups that featured major-league regulars.
Schlittler’s fastball is up a few ticks from the spring, and he’s also changed his arsenal since then, recently dropping his splitter and gyro slider while incorporating a new cutter.
“It’s a nice bridge pitch to help him get to the other weapons,” Double-A pitching coach Pete Larson told the Daily News last month of Schlittler’s cutter. “He gravitated toward it really quickly.”
Schlittler pitched to a 2.82 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 76.2 innings over 15 minor-league appearances this season, the final five of which came at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Yankees promoted Schlittler — their No. 10 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline — to fill a rotation spot vacated by Clarke Schmidt, whom Boone said over the weekend likely needs Tommy John surgery.
Schlittler could provide a boost to a starting staff that also lost ace Gerrit Cole to season-ending elbow surgery and that remains without Luis Gil, who on Sunday is set to begin a rehab assignment for a lat strain that cropped up during spring training.
“Look, it was his first start,” Boone said. “He’s gonna make another one now. I see a lot of potential. The guy I was around in spring training a little bit was a very competitive, focused person, and he went out and did that tonight.”
The Yankees’ lineup provided plenty of run support for Schlittler, tagging Mariners starter Logan Evans for six runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings.
Three of those runs came in the first inning, when Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton delivered RBI singles and Jazz Chisholm Jr. added an RBI groundout.
That was the start of a big game for Chisholm, who drilled a 418-foot solo home run in the third inning and a two-run blast in the fifth to cap the scoring against Evans.
Chisholm, who was one of three Yankees selected to the All-Star team, now boasts 17 home runs. It was the second baseman’s second multi-homer game of the season and the seventh of his career.
Aaron Judge added a two-run double in the sixth, giving him 77 RBI to pass Raleigh for the American League lead.
The Mariners arrived in the Bronx having hurled three consecutive shutouts, but the Yankees totaled 19 runs over the first two games of the series.
After a six-game losing streak, the Yankees (51-41) have won three in a row.
They will try to complete a three-game sweep on Thursday night, with Marcus Stroman (1-1, 7.45 ERA) set to start for the Yankees and All-Star right-hander Bryan Woo (8-4, 2.77 ERA) scheduled to pitch for Seattle.
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