BOSTON — With a swath of reporters from New York and Boston huddled around his locker at Fenway Park on Tuesday, Cam Schlittler downplayed the online harassment he’s received from some Red Sox fans ever since he knocked their team out of the postseason last October.
Over the weekend, Schlittler, a Walpole, Massachusetts native who grew up rooting for the Red Sox, told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman that he’s even received death threats. However, the 25-year-old, whose father, John, is a police chief in Needham, Massachusetts, didn’t feel the need to relay the threats to the Yankees or authorities. A Yankees spokesman added Tuesday that the club hasn’t gotten involved with Schlittler set to make his first career start at Fenway on Thursday.
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While Schlittler said Tuesday that “there’s definitely been some disgusting messages” sent to him and his parents, he didn’t want to share any details with reporters.
“I’m not really worried about it,” he continued. “At the end of the day, it’s just part of the game. I have no issue with it. I’ve been dealing with it for six months, and it doesn’t really affect me at all. So I didn’t really want it to be a huge thing the other day.”
Schlittler also said it’s “pretty normal” and “not out of the ordinary” for athletes to get death threats, a sad reality.
“Now, do I expect to get more death threats here than from, you know, Cleveland when I pitch there? Yeah, for sure,” Schlittler said, though he noted that he had “great” and “respectful” interactions with fans in public when he spent a few months in Boston over the offseason.
His negative interactions have mostly come on social media, where Red Sox fans first went after him and his family before his start against Boston in Game 3 of last year’s Wild Card Series. A little “shocked” and angered by some posts he saw before the game, Schlittler, a rookie at time, went on to strike out 12 over eight scoreless innings. The gem sent the Yankees to the ALDS and the Red Sox home for the winter.
Schlittler boasted about that a few times on social media in the hours, days and weeks that followed. That led to some more hate over the offseason.
On Tuesday, he said he’s not going out of his way to seek out negative comments on social media or do his own trash talking, though it’s not something he’s shied away from.
“I said what I needed to say at the end of last year,” Schlittler said of navigating his online interactions. “There’s not much a regular season game is going to change about that. I’m not too worried about that. I’ve got a job to do. I don’t want to create a distraction for the team, so I’m just gonna go out there and do what I need to do on the mound.
“The goal is to win a championship, and whatever I can do to help the team win is exactly what I’m looking to do,” he said. “But I don’t think I’m gonna get there by messing with people on social media.”
Aaron Boone, meanwhile, semi-jokingly said, “We’re trying to have him have less of a social media presence.”
Now Schlittler, who has a 1.95 ERA over five starts, is set to face the Red Sox for the first time since that outing. He’s expecting a raucous crowd Thursday with his parents and lots of friends coming to the game.
“It’s gonna be loud,” Schlittler said, “and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Schlittler last pitched at Fenway his senior year of high school in an area prospects showcase organized by Yankees scout Matt Hyde, who eventually convinced the club to draft the pitcher out of Northeastern in 2022. Schlittler last visited Fenway in May, catching a Red Sox night game after making an early start for the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate.
As a kid, Schlittler dreamed of pitching for the Red Sox at Fenway Park, but that obviously changed as he went through the pre-draft process and built a relationship with the Yankees. Still, he never imagined getting booed at Fenway, but he knows that’s about to happen this week.
As someone who attended Red Sox games as a kid, Schlittler is familiar with how harsh the Fenway faithful can be, especially when the Yankees are in town. And while he doesn’t think the American League East rivalry is “as intense as it used to be,” he did say, “I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
He’s certainly played a helping hand in that regard.
“I don’t think the goal is to just heat the rivalry up,” Schlittler said. “I think the goal is, when you’re playing division rivals, that you’re gonna perform at the best level. And if some guys, that rivalry feeds them a little bit — like it does for me — then great. If not, then it doesn’t matter.”