They embraced the modern ethos of pitching from the moment they turned professional. And now Jacob Misiorowski and Cam Schlittler have proven the future of pitching has arrived.
Misiorowski, 24, and Schlittler, 25, won the National and American league Cy Young Awards, respectively, in balloting announced on Nov. 11. And in doing so, they made a certain kind of history: They are the youngest Cy Young-winning duo since 1985, when 20-year-old Dwight Gooden and 21-year-old Bret Saberhagen took home NL and AL honors.
Gooden and Saberhagen went on to excellent, World Series-winning careers, even if they could not sustain that level of dominance when they were barely or not quite old enough to legally drink. And their victories didn’t necessarily portend
a changing of the guard in the pitching pantheon.
Yet, The Miz and Schlitt seemed to prove a point in making 30 and 33 starts and consistently pitching deep into games for the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees, respectively:
Yes, significant gains in velocity can be taught – and throwing as hard as you can as long as you can, at least for one season, is sustainable.
Schlittler’s fastball barely hit 88 mph coming out of Northeastern as a seventh-round pick in 2022. Misiorowski was in that same range when Brewers scouts pondered drafting him out of high school.
Yet both young men matured physically. Schlittler now packs 215 pounds on his 6-foot-6 frame, while Misiorowski is still a relative drink of water at 6-7, 201 – but seemingly growing every day.
Perhaps more important, they got drafted by clubs that were fantastic fits. Schlittler’s mechanics and repertoire were remade under a pitching department led by Sam Briend, a former Driveline director of pitching and now the senior voice among Yankee pitching staffers. One of Briend’s first hires, Preston Claiborne, came up the ladder with Schlittler and is now assistant pitching coach for the major league club.
Meanwhile, Misiorowski has exceeded the hopes Brewers scouts held when they projected he’d eventually top 100 mph. Try 105 mph.
The Miz threw 28 of the 35 hardest pitches in the major leagues this season, ranging from 104 to 105.5 mph. That’s great eye candy, but the numbers at the end of September are even better: 252 strikeouts with a 1.80 ERA, two of the seven major statistical categories in which Misiorowski led the major leagues.
Schlittler won his own ERA title, posting a 1.95 mark to lead the AL. And he pitched 193 2/3 innings, just shy of the 200-inning plateau that was once the bare minimum of quality production, yet just three pitchers exceeded this season.
Still, for Schlittler to reach that mark in his first full season is an excellent sign he might yet resemble what we all considered an ace.
While baseball’s velocity revolution took hold, the big money and the season-ending hardware often remained the domain of old heads. In the previous five seasons, Cy Youngs were won by the likes of Robbie Ray (30 at the time), Justin Verlander (39), Gerrit Cole (32) and Chris Sale (35).
The great Paul Skenes helped break that mold, finishing third as a rookie and winning it as a 23-year-old in 2025 with his 98-mph fastball and devastating sinker. He’s still intact, even if he ran into suboptimal performance this season.
Naturally, no one can predict the future, nor can they foresee what, if any, injuries might lie on the horizon for Schlittler and Misiorowski. After all, Tim Lincecum won consecutive Cy Youngs at 24 and 25, then toted a 5.18 ERA in 33 starts by the time he was 28.
But Lincecum was the Freak, a 5-11, 170-pound rubber band whose body suggested it might not be able to withstand the pounding. His degenerative hip eventually confirmed as much.
The Miz and Schlittler are tanks, big enough to start at small forward for your area college basketball power.
For one year, at least, they forced the Cy Young Awards to take a youthful turn that hadn’t been seen for 41 years. And that bodes well for a future that will hopefully be populated with similarly resilient and talented pitchers.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Youngest pair of Cy Young winners in 41 years shows future of pitching has arrived
