Via Carrie Muskat, the Yankees have claimed righty reliever Brian Schlitter off waivers from the Cubs. I’m guessing new pitching coaching Larry Rothschild had something to do with this. The 25-year-old made his big league debut in 2010, taking the place of Carlos Zambrano when he was suspended for one of his various tirades. He got rocked in eight appearances (8 IP, 18 H, 11 R, 5 BB, 7 K), but his minor league career features 8.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 190 IP (all relief). The Cubbies originally acquired him from the Phillies in exchange for Scott Eyre back in 2008.
Baseball America did not rank Schlitter among Chicago’s top 30 prospects in last year’s Prospect Handbook. The Baseball Info Solutions data at FanGraphs says he throws a fastball that averages 93 mph and a slider, so it’s a pretty generic repertoire. He’s a big boy though, listed at 6-foot-5, 235 lbs. on the Cubs’ official site. Schlitter’s just another arm for depth purposes, nothing wrong with another hard-thrower.
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