For 23-year-old Red Sox lefty Connelly Early, the past month has been something of a whirlwind. He was forced into action after a strong minor-league season thanks to the slew of injuries that has sapped the Red Sox rotation throughout the season. It was an elbow injury to trade-deadline acquisition Dustin May that was the last straw in getting Early on the mound for a debut the Red Sox would rather have not been forced to give.
The list of pitchers who would have kept Early off the mound if they’d been healthy is a long one, from 2024 bright spots Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck to back-end veterans Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts and Cooper Criswell, on through to DFA’d veteran Walker Buehler and longshot gamble Patrick Sandoval.
Short on options, though, the Red Sox inserted Early for a September 9 start against the A’s in Sacramento, and he dominated with six baserunners allowed and 11 strikeouts in 5.0 innings. He would make four starts and go 1-2 with a 2.33 ERA in the month.
Now, with Lucas Giolito on the shelf, Early is set to start a playoff game at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 of the wild-card series on Thursday–and will do so as one half of a historic matchup.
Red Sox-Yankees Matchup One for the Ages
That’s because, opposite the 23-year-old Early, the Yankees will start 24-year-old Cam Schlittler, another rookie who made a debut amid an injury-riddled morass of pitching problems in the Bronx. Schlittler got an earlier start, though, and made his debut in July.
He started just 14 games as a rookie, going 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA this season.
Combined, that would give the two starters the least experience in league history for starters in a postseason game. As Sarah Langs of MLB noted on Twitter/X (she credited Elias Sports Bureau for it):
“This will be Connelly Early’s 5th career app including playoffs and Cam Schlittler’s 15th It’ll be the first game in postseason history between two starters, each making their 15th career appearance or fewer (reg season + postseason combined).”
GettyYankees rookie Cam Schlittler
Red Sox’s Connelly Early: ‘Trusting the Process’
Certainly, putting the fate of this season into the hands of guys with 18 combined starts is not how either the Yankees or Red Sox imagined their seasons would go. But it’s easy to imagine that Early and Schlittler might be, going forward, two staples of each team’s rotations, and players we see again in big matchups between these two AL behemoths.
For now, though, Early is keeping it in the moment.
“(Alex Cora) earlier, in the locker room was talking about going out there and attacking with our best stuff, trusting our process, knowing what we’re good at and we’ll handle everything else. All the trust in AC, he’s gonna freaking do his game and we’re going to play our game as players,” Early said.
Cam Schlittler: ‘It Is All Learning Points’
Nothing can prepare a pitcher fully for his first time on the mound in a playoff game, of course, but Schlittler said the experience of having a front-row seat to the way the first two games of the series unfolded could help him tremendously.
“It is more the mentality and mental side of the game as well. Being able to listen in to what they are doing and the adjustments they are making again will make things a little easier for me,” he said
“Again, it is all learning points. For me to experience playoff baseball for two days before I get there is definitely a good experience.”
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