Yankees get good omen for Cam Schlittler Cy Young Award with ESPN ranking

Yankees get good omen for Cam Schlittler Cy Young Award with ESPN ranking originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The New York Yankees will probably not see a player win the AL MVP Award this season, with Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros holding a significant lead over Ben Rice and all other Yankees players this season.

When it comes to the AL Cy Young Award, however, there is a chance that Cam Schlittler takes home the honor. He’s the frontrunner right now, but Toronto Blue Jays righty Dylan Cease is making it a tight race.

But Schlittler and the Yankees got a good omen for the Cy Young Award, as ESPN and Jorge Castillo ranked Schlittler as the No. 9-ranked player in MLB this season, the highest-ranked pitcher in the AL.

Cam Schlittler ranked No. 9 player in MLB by ESPN in good omen for Cy Young

“9. Cam Schlittler, SP, New York Yankees. Schlittler is currently the slight favorite to win the AL Cy Young over Dylan Cease,” Castillo writes.

Seeing ESPN rank Schlittler as a top-10 player in baseball is a sign of just how far the 25-year-old right-hander has come.

But the more interesting takeaway from this ranking is that he’s the only AL pitcher inside the top-10, though the NL has three pitchers: Jacob Misiorowski, Cristopher Sanchez and Chris Sale.

For the American League, Schlittler is No. 9, and the next closest pitcher is Cease, who is ranked at No. 11. He’s not too far behind Schlittler, and this race is certainly close.

MORE: Yankees ‘dabbled‘ in trade talks for Tarik Skubal despite not willing to deal George Lombard Jr.

But Schlittler has the advantage right now, and being ranked ahead of Cease overall in the player rankings is a good sign that he is the leader in the clubhouse for the AL Cy Young Award this season.

In 25 starts, Schlittler has a 2.21 ERA (best in the AL), 4.8 bWAR (best in the AL), and 182 strikeouts across 146.2 innings pitched. Cease has a 2.40 ERA with 4.8 bWAR in 22 starts with 191 strikeouts in 131.1 innings pitched.

This is a very fascinating race, as their WAR values are the same, but Schlittler has been on the mound more than Cease and has a better ERA, while Cease has more strikeouts.

It’s going to be a close race, but for now, based on this ESPN ranking, it’s looking like Schlittler has the advantage in the AL Cy Young race over Cease.

More MLB news: