Yankees' Cam Schlitterer makes baseball history not done since Walter Johnson in 1913 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
They called Walter Johnson "The Big Train." He was the first real flamethrower in baseball history.
It's taken 113 years for someone to match the way Johnson started the 1913 MLB season. New York Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler is off to a historic beginning to the 2026 campaign.
Baseball is one of those cool sports where stats can be compared across generations to connect long-ago legends to the rising stars of today.
Rarely, though, has a feat not been achieved in 113 years. There's so much baseball being played. Someone has to have done it since then, right?
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But Schlittler is striking out hitters, avoiding walks and homers, and limiting runs in a way that no one has done through his first nine starts of a season since The Big Train.
Check out this comparison from OptaStats:
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It's really been a remarkable start to this season for Schlittler. He wowed late last year, including in the postseason, but it's never a given that a young pitcher carries over that small sample size success into a brand new year.
For Schlittler, that's exactly what he's done. He looks like the young star he was hoped to be.
It's unlikely he'll match any of Johnson's career numbers from a time when ace starting pitchers threw a whole lot more often. But at the moment, Schlittler is doing as well as anyone could've possibly hoped.
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