Yankees’ Cam Schlittler explains his 3-fastball arsenal that is lighting up MLB hitters

After a so-so start to the season, the New York Yankees are right where they want to be in the final week of April. They are in first place in the American League East with 2.0-game lead over the second place Rays. The defending American League champion Blue Jays and the arch-rival Red Sox are already far back at this time of year. Toronto trails New York by 5.0 games, while the Red Sox are in last place in the division, 6.0 games behind.

The Yankees are going for a sweep of their first series of the year with the Red Sox Thursday night at Fenway Park. Manager Aaron Boone is sending Boston-area native Cam Schlittler to the mound and he has been extremely sharp this season. He has a 2-1 record with a 1.95 earned run average while striking out 36 batters and walking just 3 in 27.2 innings.

Schlittler has been using a variety of fastballs to trigger his excellent performance. He explained to MLB.com that using a four-seamer, a tw0-seamer and cutter simply makes it tougher on opposing hitters.

“I don’t think it was ever a plan, like, ‘Man, we’re going to have you throw three different shapes of fastballs, and that’s how you’re going to attack guys for X amount of years,’” Schlittler told MLB.com last weekend at Yankee Stadium.

“… I know it’s tough when you’ve got 95-plus with three different pitches going in three different ways. It makes it tough on them. I know a lot of hitters who are like, guys who have four-seam and two-seam profiles, it makes things a lot harder. Adding a 94 mile-per-hour cutter in there just makes me feel better.

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