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The Atlanta Braves made the first significant transaction of the Major League Baseball offseason, signing free agent reliever Evan Phillips to a three-year, $35 million, the team announced on Thursday, Nov. 12.

It's a return to Atlanta for Phillips, who was drafted by the Braves in 2015 and made his MLB debut for the club in 2018. The 32-year-old right-hander had been an integral part of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen since arriving in 2021, posting a 2.36 ERA in 232 regular season games for Los Angeles.

Atlanta had the second-best bullpen ERA (3.44) in the National League in 2026 despite being without $45 million closer Robert Suarez for half the season. The addition of Phillips further solidifies the back end of the Braves bullpen with Dylan Lee and Dylan Dodd also in the mix for high-leverage innings ahead of Suarez.

Phillips has also made 17 postseason appearances for the Dodgers, without surrendering a single run. He picked up three holds and two wins in the team's 2024 World Series run, but missed the 2025 postseason after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He returned in July 2026 and pitched five games in this year's playoffs.

Raisel Iglesias, who saved 34 games for the Braves in 2026, is a free agent after spending five seasons with the club.

Evan Phillips contract details

Announcing the signing, the club said Phillips would be donating 1% of his salary to the Atlanta Braves Foundation.

• 2027: $11 million
• 2028: $11 million
• 2029: $13 million

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Atlanta Braves drop $35 million on reliever Evan Phillips

Okay, the stove is more lit now.

Due to a bunch of issues with Twitter and other embeds, basically, the Braves are signing (and reuniting with, sorta) reliever Evan Phillips on a three-year deal worth $35 million. The deal pays Phillips $11 million in each of 2027 and 2028, and includes a $13 million salary in 2029.

The deal continues a tenure-long trend of giant spend on relievers for Alex Anthopoulos and company. Phillips was an elite-level reliever from 2024-2024 with the Dodgers, posting a combined 4.3 fWAR while making 60-plus appearances in each of those three seasons. Since then, he’s worn down a bit, making just seven appearances in 2025 and 31 in 2026 (along with five appearances this past postseason). He’s been waylaid by a series of injuries recently, including a rotator cuff strain in early 2025, followed forearm discomfort leading to Tommy John Surgery that saw him miss the rest of 2025 and much of 2026.

Phillips joins a bullpen that currently looks to be led by Robert Suarez, who had his own injury issues in 2026, and Dylan Lee. The Braves could still reunite with Raisel Iglesias, but Phillips gives them a fearsome threesome even if Iglesias is not re-added, which could grow to a quartet if a reunion ends up being in the cards. Dylan Dodd is also likely to carry a substantial relief load, while Didier Fuentes and Ray Kerr may or may not end up in the bullpen depending on how the offseason and Spring Training play out.

The move is a kinda-sorta reunion for Phillips and the Braves. Atlanta drafted him out of UNC Wilmington in the 17th round of the 2015 draft, and he made his MLB debut for the Braves in 2018. He was then traded in the Kevin Gausman deal, and was not a particularly effective reliever with the Orioles. After they cut him in 2021, he caught on with the Rays, but was claimed by the Dodgers, and then grew into his own in the 2021-2022 offseason.

For his career, Phillips has 280 relief appearances and one start, and has compiled 5.0 fWAR across 278 innings of work, with a 79 ERA-, 79 FIP-, and 86 xFIP-. That said, he hasn’t had an xFIP- in a single season above 86 since 2021, and has largely posted video game-ish numbers from 2022-onward.

The Dodgers have suffered their first big free-agent loss of the offseason.

Right-handed reliever and former closer Evan Phillips signed a three-year, $35 million deal with the Atlanta Braves on Thursday, bringing his six-year tenure in Los Angeles to a close.

Phillips, 32, was one of several longtime Dodgers relievers who hit the free agent market this offseason, along with Alex Vesia, Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen.

While he was a potential re-signing candidate for the club, he was also likely to end up elsewhere if he attracted a strong market.

And in the end, he got an even bigger deal than he was projected to receive from a Braves club trying to rebound from its National League Division Series elimination to the Dodgers in October.

After originally joining the Dodgers as an unheralded waiver claim in 2021, Phillips blossomed as one of the club’s best relievers over the last half-decade.

From 2022 to 2024, he posted a 2.21 ERA with a team-high 44 saves. He played a key role on their 2024 World Series team, though he missed that year’s Fall Classic with a shoulder injury.

Phillips suffered another health setback in 2025, making only seven appearances before going down with an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery.

However, he returned during the second half of this season and — after some initially inconsistent performances — regained his typically dominant form down the stretch, posting a 2.33 ERA in his final 24 appearances while also hitting 100 mph with his fastball at one point.

That was enough for the Braves to make a significant investment in the nine-year MLB veteran and make him the first of what could be several fan-favorite departures this offseason.

Already this week, Vesia began attracting wide-ranging interest at MLB’s annual General Managers’ Meetings. According to a source, roughly half the league had checked in with the 30-year-old left-hander.

That signaled a likelihood that Vesia –– who was widely ranked as an even better free-agent target than Phillips this offseason –– would draw three-year contract offers of his own.

Now, Phillips’ deal almost feels like a starting place for him, which would raise the chances of Vesia winding up elsewhere too this winter; though, the Dodgers’ need to retain left-handed depth means they will maintain interest in him as the offseason progresses.

The Dodgers, of course, knew such a bullpen exodus could be a possibility this winter. Despite that, they still remain confident in the group they will return, which includes Edwin Díaz, Tanner Scott, Edgardo Henriquez and Brock Stewart, as well as a number of younger arms they were looking to give opportunities to.

They can also always pivot and make other relief additions, with general manager Brandon Gomes describing their approach to the bullpen market as “probably an opportunistic-type thing.”

Prior to Phillips’ signing, for example, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported that the club had checked in on veteran left-hander Tim Hill, as a soon-to-be 37-year-old who would likely be available on a shorter-term, more cost-effective deal.

Thus, Phillips’ departure won’t send off any alarm bells at Chavez Ravine. But it still represents an impactful loss, one that might not be the last the Dodgers suffer this offseason.

Evan Phillips and the Atlanta Braves have agreed to terms on a 3 year, $35 million deal, per reports.

Phillips, a righthanded reliever, was originally signed by the Braves in 2015 after being selected in the 15th round out of the University of North Carolina. He broke into the majors in 2018 with Atlanta, making 4 appearances with an 8+ ERA before being sent to the Baltimore Orioles at the deadline for Kevin Gausman and our old friend Darren O’Day. after a couple of years as a not very good up-and-down guy, Phillips was released by the Orioles and signed by the Rays for the 2021 season. He only had one major league appearance with the Rays before they waived him, and he was claimed by the Dodgers.

He was terrific for the Dodgers in 2022 and 2023, pretty good in 2024, and then missed of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. After being non-tendered, he resigned with Los Angeles and put up a 3.46 ERA and 3.87 FIP in 26 innings over 31 games upon his return in 2026. In 221 innings over 232 games for L.A., he has put up a 2.36 ERA and a 2.90 FIP.

How does that compare to what the prognosticators prognosticated for him in his venture into the free agent market? Baseball America projected he would get less than $10 million guaranteed. The projections at Fangraphs from Ben Clemens said 2 years, $20 million, while the median crowdsource was 1 year, $6.8 million. Kiley McDaniel had Phillips in his “other free agents of note” category. MLB Trade Rumors had Phillips at 2 years, $24 million.

This is the first multi-year deal for a free agent of the offseason. I was going to say it was the first free agent signing of significance, but Emiliano Pagan and the Tigers agreed to a $11.5M one year deal yesterday, it was reported.

Astros' Yordan Alvarez and Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong win 2026 MLB MVP awards originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Major League Baseball has crowned two first-time MVP winners in 2026.

Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs were named the AL and NL Most Valuable Players on Thursday.

The 29-year-old Alvarez and 24-year-old Crow-Armstrong were the runaway winners, taking home the awards unanimously.

Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals finished behind Alvarez in the AL voting. Crow-Armstrong ended Shohei Ohtani’s streak of three straight MVPs, with the Los Angeles Dodgers star finishing second and Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang in third.

This year marks a changing of the guard after years of dominance by Ohtani and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees. They were the MVPs in both 2024 and 2025, and at least one of them had been an MVP every year from 2021-25. Both players battled injuries throughout this season, with Judge playing just 66 games and Ohtani hitting his fewest home runs (30) since 2020.

Alvarez, the 2019 Rookie of the Year, had a standout season to carry the Astros to the AL West title, despite going just 81-81. He set a career-high with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs, and he led MLB in walks (109), batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.432), slugging (.601) and OPS (1.033).

After battling injuries in 2025, Alvarez played 158 games in 2026 while making his fourth All-Star appearance (and second start at DH). He hit three grand slams in June alone, becoming the 11th player in MLB history to pull off that feat.

Alvarez previously finished third in MVP voting in 2022, and this is his third top-10 finish. He joins teammate Jose Altuve (2017) and Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell (1994) as just the third Astro to win the award.

Crow-Armstrong’s MVP campaign came in his third season, and his victory was emphatic. He led the NL in runs (119), home runs (45), slugging (.570), OPS (.943) and WAR (9.8) while playing all 162 games.

In addition to his prowess at the dish, Crow-Armstrong won the Gold Glove in center field and stole 41 bases. He was just the seventh player in MLB history to achieve a 40-40 season (40 home runs, 40 stolen bases).

Crow-Armstrong is the ninth Cub to win MVP, joining Gabby Harnett (1935), Phil Cavarretta (1945), Hank Sauer (1952), Ernie Banks (1958 and 1959), Ryne Sandberg (1984), Andre Dawson (1987), Sammy Sosa (1998) and Kris Bryant (2016).

As the offseason continues, let’s talk a little bit about the Dodgers infield. Specifically, who’s on second base. Or perhaps What’s on second base, even if that might confuse Elizabeth Holmes.

Alex Freeland had the most starts (67) and defensive innings (579) at second base for the Dodgers in 2026, the bulk of that coming in the first two and a half months of the season when Tommy Edman was on the injured list following ankle surgery. Edman on the season finished second on the team in second base starts (42) and innings (386 1/3), and the now-retired Miguel Rojas made 36 starts with 302 1/3 innings at second base. All three were above average defensively at the position by both Defensive Runs Saved and Fielding Run Value.

The Dodgers were squarely in the middle of the pack among major league teams with 2.2 Wins Above Replacement at second base, ranked 15th as measured by FanGraphs. That value was mostly fueled by the defense, as Dodgers second baseman ranked 20th among 30 teams with an 89 wRC+ and 22nd in slugging percentage (.358), while 15th in both on-base percentage (.318) and batting average (.249).

Dodgers second basemen combined for nine home runs, 28th in baseball, ahead of only the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals.

Rojas is now retired. The Dodgers just claimed utility player Christian Cairo off waivers and he could conceivably fill in at times at second base, once he makes his major league debut. The Dodgers still have Edman and Freeland, plus Hyeseong Kim, though Kim has yet to show he can hit major league pitching for extended periods of time.

For a team relatively with Hall of Famers locked into positions at designated hitter (Shohei Ohtani) and first base (Freddie Freeman), plus three starting outfielders in place and beloved veterans in the infield (Mookie Betts, Max Muncy) and catcher (Will Smith), second base stands out as perhaps the easiest path for the Dodgers to improve in 2027.

To that end, Katie Woo at The Athletic on Wednesday reported the Dodgers are seeking a right-handed-hitting infielder which “would free up Tommy Edman to serve in more of a utility role, allow Mookie Betts to get a blow when needed and allow for more depth alongside Alex Freeland.” On Thursday, Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic reported two infielders the Dodgers have shown interest in — Maurico Dubón and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, each of whom can play multiple positions.

Which is to say second base could once again feature a number of players seeing time at the position. Today’s question is which player do you think will lead the Dodgers in games started at second base in 2027?

Not quite the stove being lit… and also, not that Freeman. Sorry.

A veteran of parts of five major league seasons, including three with the team that drafted him (Cleveland) and his most recent two with the Rockies, Freeman hasn’t really found his footing yet. He’s played all over the diamond — every position other than pitcher and catcher so far in his career — but hasn’t really done anything on either side of the ball. He’s played both infield and outfield at a below-average rate, and his career batting line includes a .296 wOBA and .312 xwOBA. Put those together and he’s been worth -1.3 fWAR in 1,353 PAs, which really isn’t fun for anyone.

So, this is more a plug-and-play depth at Gwinnett move rather than anything else, but someone’s gotta play at Gwinnett and be around in case Luke Williams and Kyle Farmer aren’t, and it looks like the 28-year-old Freeman is a contender to fill that roster spot of dubious repute.

Profile-wise, you can kind of see why the Braves might want to work with Freeman, even if he isn’t expected to amount with anything. He has a ton of tools — he was fast earlier in his career, and has a huge throwing arm. He’s also very good at making contact, but it comes with a hyper-slap approach that prevents him from generating any power. He also, oddly, has some truly awful reactions and an inability to consistently make defensive plays, which is like the opposite of what you want from a utility guy. Maybe some of those things can be fixed.

In any case, he’s the Braves’ problem-and/or-thing-to-work-on now.

Bill Bonham was another in a long line of similar pitchers in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s — a really hard-throwing right-hander who didn’t always know where the ball was going.

Three times he was drafted out of high school and junior college, and three times he didn’t sign. Then he went undrafted after his senior season at UCLA, and his SABR biography explains:

“I really didn’t have a great record with UCLA,” Bonham said. “Too, I think a lot of clubs thought I had a bad attitude.”

So the Cubs signed him as an undrafted free agent in June 1970 for $2,000. Even by inflationary standards that’s not a lot of money today — the equivalent of about $17,000.

As was the case for many in the Cubs system at the time, they didn’t have the infrastructure to develop good pitchers. So Bonham made 18 appearances in the Cubs system in 1970 and 1971, striking out 81 batters in 50 innings, and was deemed ready for the majors.

At age 22 in 1971, he posted a 4.65 ERA in 33 appearances, all but two in relief, with a high walk rate (13.2 percent), and started 1972 at Triple-A Wichita, where he struck out 116 in 125 innings. That was a really good K rate for the time, and in 1973 he was with the Cubs to stay.

Used mostly in relief early on, Bonham was pressed into the Cubs rotation in late July 1973, while the team was fading, and stabilized things, a bit, peaking with an 8.1-inning, three-hit, nine-strikeout performance against the Dodgers Aug. 17 at Wrigley Field.

The 3.02 ERA and six saves, along with a 19.3 percent K rate (very good for the time), got him 4.3 bWAR at age 24. With the team rebuilding after ‘73, Bonham was given a full slot in the Cubs rotation in 1974, basically second starter behind Rick Reuschel, and hopes were high.

If you ignore Bonham’s W/L record, his 1974 season was quite successful: 3.86 ERA, 191 strikeouts (sixth in the NL) and 3.2 bWAR. On a 96-loss team, though, a pitcher like that is likely going to lose more than he wins and Bonham wound up 11-22. He is the last Cubs pitcher to lose 20 or more games in a season. Of that, Bonham said (from the SABR bio):

“When I pitched badly I lost,” said Bonham, “and when I pitched good, I lost some of those games, too. For a while, it seemed it didn’t make any difference how I pitched. I didn’t get much in the way of results. It’s an unsuccessful thing to lose that many games and it makes you feel like a failure. It’s tough to digest 20 losses. But I try to look at the other aspects. I got a lot of innings in. I picked up a lot of experience.

“When you lose 22, you’ve got something wrong. I have to change something, but I don’t really know what it is. I’m going to have to keep working hard until I find the answer.”

It mostly wasn’t his fault. Bonham ranked 45th of 52 qualified starters in the NL in 1974 in run support at 3.3 per start. Of his 10 complete games, five were losses: two 1-0 losses, a 2-0 loss and two 2-1 losses.

Another note on Bonham’s 1974 season: In the first game of a doubleheader July 31 at Wrigley Field against the Expos, he became just the third pitcher in franchise history to strikeout four in an inning. The opposing pitcher, Mike Torrez, was the guy who reached base after striking out, on a passed ball.

Bonham’s ERA went up nearly a run in 1975, to 4.71, as the Cubs staff was torched for a league-high 827 runs, 133 of those charged to Bonham, and he gave up the most earned runs in the NL at 120. Things didn’t get any better in 1976, but in ‘77 Bonham started 34 times and posted a relatively high ERA, 4.36, but still had a 3.7 bWAR season.

All that did was get him traded to the Reds after 1977 for Woodie Fryman and Bill Caudill. Fryman, a veteran starter, was pretty awful and didn’t last even two months with the Cubs before being traded to the Expos for Jerry White. Caudill had a couple decent years in Chicago before he was sent to the Yankees as a PTBNL in the deal that brought Pat Tabler to the Cubs.

As for Bonham, he had a couple decent years in Cincinnati but was done after 1980 at age 31 due to elbow issues. He also had shoulder surgery after the 1980 season, and then was involved, along with his teammate Tom Hume, in an event that made national news:

A month after the surgery, Bonham, his wife, and Hume and his wife were staying at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, when the hotel was devastated by a fire.

The Bonhams and the Humes were in their rooms on the 24th floor when the fire broke out shortly after 7 A.M. After being awakened by shouts, “the Humes quickly aroused the Bonhams, who occupied an adjoining room, and the two couples headed for the fire exit stairway, aware they were 24 floors away from safety. As they descended, the smoke became denser. It became unbearable when they reached the 16th floor. All the guests who jammed the stairway then turned around and headed for the rooftop.”

About 1,000 people were rescued from the rooftop. The blaze, one of the worst hotel fires ever in the United States, claimed 85 lives, 75 from inhalation.

After his playing career, Bonham worked as a minor-league pitching instructor in the Astros organization for several seasons and later settled with his wife in southern California. He turned 78 in October.

Bill Bonham posted 14.6 bWAR in his seven seasons with the Cubs.

Unlike last year, where Eugenio Suarez’s four-homer performance was an absolutely shoo-in, this category likely counts as wide-open. There is no “obvious” choice this season, and that probably makes it more fun, since there is consequently no wrong answer here. Thanks to BTBaseball, kilnborn and Bryce.dbacks for giving their thoughts in the nomination thread. That helped me narrow down a field of performance which, in the final analysis, are likely to end up enshrined in the Diamondbacks Hall of Quite Good, rather than anything else.

Still, all of these were thoroughly enjoyable to experience, and deserve to be appreciated. Interestingly, the final selection ended up pitching heavy, with an extra relief performance being chosen over an offensive one. And, without further ado…

3/31, Jose Fernandez: 3-for-4 with two home-runs in his debut

Never mind nine total bases, before Fernandez, only one D-back had as many as six bases in their first game. And it was 28 years ago: the franchise’s first ever game and Travis Lee. Fernandez almost matched that by the fourth inning. After legging out an infield single in the second, he cranked a solo home-run off Casey Mize in the fourth. In the bottom of the eighth, he added a three-run shot to complete the comeback for Arizona, who scored seven unanswered runs after falling 5-0 behind, Fernandez driving in four of them. Jose had a WP of +64.5%; no D-backs debutant position player previously had reached even 35%. It was the highest in the NL since Kyle Farmer for the Dodgers in July 2017.

5/15, Merrill Kelly: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, in Coors

The Diamondbacks have had only one complete game thrown for them in the past three years. Of course, it would happen in Coors Field. Merrill became just the fourth Arizona starter to toss a complete game in Denver, in 243 attempts, and the first for almost 13 years. Randy Johnson didn’t. Nor did Curt Schilling or Brandon Webb. [Try and guess the other three – answers below] It’s a very special achievement. The only blot was a solo shot by Hunter Goodman, but that’s okay. He hit 41 HR. And besides, Kelly’s predecessors in complete games at Coors all allowed at least a run too. Heck, one allowed eleven hits in his complete game. Merrill? Four, and no walks. Top stuff in an utterly unforgiving environment.

7/28, Gerardo Carrillo: 2 IP in extras, 0 H, stranded both Manfred Men, +76.7% WP

That Win Probability added is the highest ever by an Arizona reliever, surpassing the +65.1% set by Anthony DeSclafani last year. In the National League, it’s also the highest by any reliever since 2020, and the 7th highest in the wild-card era, dating back to 1995. Oh, and did I mention that Gerardo did it in just his third appearance in the major-leagues? Coming to any inning with a runner on second and no outs is a situation where you are expected to fail. Doing so would have ended the game, because it was tied 7-7 in the bottom of the 11th. But Carrillo not only kept the game tied there, he came back out in the 12th as well, and did it again to secure a D-back victory. He needed just 17 pitches, and retired all six batters faced, three by strikeout.

7/29, Eduardo Rodriguez: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, +46.4% WP

The following night, E-Rod threw eight shutout innings against the Pirates – and, boy, was it needed. Arizona had used six relievers in Carrillo’s game, and available arms were thus extremely limited. Rodriguez had averaged barely five frames over his four previous outings in July, but really stepped it up on the night. A seven-pitch first inning set the tone for the night, Eduardo needing fewer than 15 pitches for five of the first six times up. Pittsburgh managed just two PA with a runner in scoring position all night, and Rodriguez faced four over the minimum, before handing the ball to Brandyn Garcia to close out the victory.

9/11, Justin Martinez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, immaculate inning

From 2013-25, the Diamondbacks didn’t have a single case of an immaculate inning – a frame where a pitcher throws nine pitches, all strikes and gets three K’s. This year, they had two. One by Michael Soroka in his debut for Arizona, and this outing by J-Mart. It only his eighth game back after missing fourteen months due to elbow surgery. You wouldn’t have known, six of the nine pitches being in triple digits, topping out at 102.6 mph. Pity the Tigers’ Evan Carter, who took an 89.2 mph splitter for a strike, then had to try and catch up with the next pitch at 102.5 mph. The Tigers swung at six pitches, with five whiffs and a foul. Arguably the most dominant frame in franchise history.

Here’s your poll – of course, you can explain your choice in the comments!

[The other three D-backs to throw a complete game in Coors: Omar Daal, 1999-05-22; Armando Reynoso, 2000-09-28; and Patrick Corbin, 2013-05-20]

The Yankees officially have their seventh AL Cy Young Award winner in franchise history! Cam Schlittler rightly claimed a clean sweep of the highest pitching award in the land, becoming the third Yankee after Ron Guidry in 1978 and Gerrit Cole in 2023 to win the award in unanimous fashion. He fended off fellow frontrunner Dylan Cease with a stretch of late season excellence to author the best pitching season in franchise history since Guidry’s extraterrestrial award-winning campaign, finishing the year 14-6 in 33 starts, with a 1.95 ERA (215 ERA+), 2.56 FIP, 0.92 WHIP, and 239 strikeouts in 193.2 innings, leading all AL starters with 6.2 fWAR and setting a single-season franchise record with 21 starts allowing one or fewer runs. After enduring a 22 year drought since Roger Clemens took home the prize in 2001, the Yankees have now claimed two of the last four AL Cy Young’s between Cole and now Schlittler.

With Schlittler’s meteoric rise from an obscure draft pick to unheralded prospect to playoff hero to now the best pitcher in the AL, I would like to offer a mea culpa of sorts. I am not ashamed to admit that I was wrong about the Yankees’ now-undisputed ace.

First, I’ll give myself a small bit of credit for identifying Schlittler as the team’s breakout pitcher during 2025 spring training. While certainly impressed by his high octane velocity that seemingly came out of nowhere, I had my reservations about the repeatability of his mechanics and the resulting lack of command I believed that conferred. I was sharply critical during his first six or so starts during the regular season in 2025 about what I perceived as him being a thrower rather than a pitcher, his imprecise command, and the erratic nature of his slider. I went back to the time period surrounding those half-dozen starts to pull a few of my own quotes evaluating his up-and-down performances that yielded a 3.94 ERA, 5.26 FIP, and 10.8-percent walk rate at the time:

“Cam Schlittler’s principal issue since being promoted to the big league rotation has been a complete lack of command over his secondary pitches.”

“For all the velocity he possesses, far too often Schlittler seemingly has no idea where the slider is going which effectively removes the pitch as a reasonable selection. No amount of velocity in the world will then save you once you become a fastball-only pitcher.”

“The command of the slider was an issue with too many staying elevated or in the heart of the zone. He actually reworked the pitch in the offseason, adding velocity at the expense of movement — he even said during the postgame that he now considers the pitch to be a cutter rather than a gyro slider as Statcast currently has it categorized. I’m not convinced the current version of the pitch can be a reliable swing-and-miss option and I’d like to see him expand the use of the sweeper in advantageous counts.”

“His cutter was a home run machine when he first came up owing to a propensity to miss middle-middle.”

Suffice to say I did not envision at that point that roughly 15 months later, Schlittler would be unanimously selected as the 2026 Cy Young winner. And all the credit goes to him for not only identifying the areas of his game that needed improvement, but actively seeking help from the Yankees pitching coaches and his veteran teammates in the rotation. It is said that Schlittler is among the most eager and proactive pitchers in the organization at pouring over the pitch metric data and high-speed video to find the subtle adjustments for fine-tuning grip, finger positioning, release, and arm path mechanics, squeezing every drop out of his physical gifts.

One of the first things I noticed this year was a simplifying of his delivery. In 2025, it seemed he relied too much on brute arm speed to supply velocity, the longer arm path and more maximum effort delivery robbing him of precise fastball command. In 2026, he learned to engage his lower half more, sinking his hips to draw more power from his leg drive. This allowed him to shorten his takeaway and turned his somewhat loopy arm path into a more compact stroke, which not only sharpened his command but gave him access to a few more ticks on the heater, allowing him to touch 101 mph. With a more repeatable delivery, Schlittler found he could live on the top shelf of the strike zone with relative ease.

Schlittler’s receptiveness to feedback is super impressive, especially for a young player with rapidly growing hype surrounding him. He sought out Cole before the season, and a conversation they had about reshaping his slider into a cutter and throwing it as hard as he could unlocked a new level for Schlittler. Thus, he was able to transform probably the weakest facet of his game — a slider with unpredictable command — into one of the best cutters in the game, which also boosted the effectiveness of his four-seamer and sinker given the way its movement diverged from that latter pair of pitches. Adding the cutter is what allowed him to excel while throwing a fastball variant 89.3-percent of the time.

What impressed me most — and another piece of overwhelming evidence that Schlittler is indeed a pitcher and not just a thrower — is his constant quest to find that next level. Not content to simply rest on the laurels of his three overpowering fastballs, Schlittler evolved his game in the second half of the season by developing a unicorn curveball that could play off his new-found mastery of the top of the zone. Facing a Red Sox team fully expecting him to go heavy fastball when they met in the AL Wild Card Series, Schlittler threw a career-high 32 curveballs to completely confound their gameplan. This ability to be a step ahead of the opposition to me is evidence of Schlittler’s dedication to his craft.

It absolutely delights me to say how wrong I was about Schlittler in his first taste of the bigs. More and more pitchers these days can touch triple digits with their fastball. It is the rare player like Schlittler who is never satisfied with his physical gifts, and this insatiable push to keep becoming a better version of himself is why this unanimous AL Cy Young might not be the last of his career.