I started writing this six hours before Cam Bump Day, the day once a week or so that’s circled on the calendar because Cam Schlittler is pitching today. He is right now the second-best pitcher in baseball by one tenth of a win according to FanGraphs, a distinction so miniscule that it really doesn’t apply, and I can call him the best pitcher in baseball for the moment. It has been less than a calendar year — Cam’s first MLB start coming on July 9th of 2025 — and he has become appointment viewing.
On Wednesday, the day this post goes live, we will have Cole Bump Day. Gerrit Cole probably isn’t his 2023 Cy Young self, and he’s certainly not his 2019 self, but he’s still Gerrit Cole and every one of his starts will be delicious. If it weren’t for Aaron Judge, the Cole contract would be seen as the best Yankee free agent signing of the era, worth every penny as the definitive top-of-the-rotation ace since 2020. And then of course we eagerly await the other guy that is a top-of-the-rotation starter, Max Fried. In the last five seasons Fried has the seventh-best fWAR, 11th best ERA and 17th-most innings thrown among all MLB pitchers, the exact combination of workload and top-end per-inning results that make a guy an ace.
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The 2011 Phillies, especially that famous pitching rotation, were a pretty significant part of my baseball upbringing. I was just starting to delve into advanced stats — many of those metrics themselves were just getting traction at the public level — and just starting to pull apart what makes a player good, and the difference between being good and being perceived as good. Being a 17-year-old fan of Derek Jeter, Professional Shortstop probably didn’t help with learning some of those lessons.
But the novelty of having four aces, three of whom would finish in the top five of Cy Young voting that year, has never worn off. The Yankees aren’t quite at that point yet; Schlittler barring an Act of God will place well in Cy Young voting, but Cole hasn’t received a vote since 2023 and while Fried was a finalist last year, where he sits on this year’s ballot will largely be determined on how long this IL stint. Despite that, despite Cole currently having a higher walk rate than strikeout rate, these feelings are about more than a statline.
That 60 percent of a starting rotation has become must-see TV is something we haven’t really had for the Yankees since the dynasty years. I was thinking of the 2017 rotation headlined by Luis Severino’s breakout year, but nostalgia ended up being a more potent force than I thought. Masahiro Tanaka was fine, Jordan Montgomery was ascendant, but only Sevy really had the ability to take over a game the way the Yankees’ current three-headed dog can. 2012 saw a pair of 200+ inning campaigns from CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda, but only CC really featured the kind of stuff Cerberus can.
We got to watch the best pitcher in baseball last night, one that the team created seemingly from a box of scraps in a cave. We get to watch one of the best of his generation today, after a return start that should have us all encouraged. Fried is already back to throwing, and the three-headed dog will be back before long. As we get set for the dog days of summer, the Yankees have put together a pitching fan’s dream. Enjoy it.
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