New York Yankees' Next All-Star is Blatantly Obvious

The New York Yankees improved to 2-0 with their win over the San Francisco Giants on Friday afternoon, once again shutting out their opponent.

The Yankees have yet to allow a run thus far in 2026. First, Max Fried dominated the Giants' lineup Wednesday evening. Then, on Friday, Schlittler absolutely ravaged it.

Schlittler entered the game on a pitch count due to a back issue he dealt with in Spring Training. Aaron Boone already stated that the right-hander wouldn't be going more than 70 pitches, and he didn't even get to throw that many.

And not because Schlittler pitched poorly. Quite the contrary, in fact. It was actually because the right-hander was so efficient.

Schlittler went 5.1 innings against San Francisco, allowing just one hit while racking up eight strikeouts. He threw a grand total of 68 pitches and didn't walk a single batter.

In spite of missing some time in Spring Training, Schlittler was still touching 100 mph on the radar gun at Oracle Park. He was hitting 98 mph on his sinker, and his breaking pitches were absolutely filthy.

Schlittler employed five pitches against a bewildered Giants offense: his four-seamer, a sinker, a slider, a cutter and a curveball, the latter of which featured a nasty 12-to-6 break that had San Francisco batters completely fooled.

For those worried that the 25-year-old might encounter a sophomore slump after pitching to the tune of a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts last season and putting forth one of the greatest playoff performances in recent memory, his showing in the Bay on Friday certainly raised eyebrows.

It's becoming more and more clear that Schlittler is a future All-Star. Heck, he might even be a future Cy Young candidate. And who knows how close that future actually is? In terms of the former, at least, it could be as soon as this July.

Schlittler has already shown he has the moxie to pitch in the Bronx. We saw that last October when he shut down the Boston Red Sox, his favorite childhood team. he also obviously has the talent to develop into an ace.

So long as Fried and Gerrit Cole — who is making his way back from Tommy John surgery — are on New York's roster and performing, Schlittler probably won't receive the "ace" label. But that doesn't mean he can't pitch like one.

Is it too early to say that Schlittler will avoid any regression this season? Yes. He's only made one start in 2026, after all. But Friday was certainly a phenomenal sign for the Yankees, and a terrible sign for the AL East ... and the other 29 teams as a whole.

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