New York Yankees star Cam Schlittler has never needed a reminder that the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry does not pause for hometown courtesy.
Raised in Walpole, Massachusetts, in a household that bled Boston red, he once idolized David Ortiz and walked from Northeastern to Fenway like any other local kid.
The Yankees selected him in the seventh round in 2022, and the switch was immediate. His family followed him into pinstripes. A slice of Red Sox Nation never forgave the conversion.
The hostility sharpened before Game 3 of the 2025 American League Wild Card Series, when Schlittler took the mound at Yankee Stadium against the team he grew up cheering.
Online comments aimed at him and his relatives, in his view, crossed a line. He answered with eight scoreless innings, twelve strikeouts and no walks, a start that ended Boston’s season and planted him in rivalry lore.
The messages did not stop. Through 2026, they arrived weekly, sometimes daily, from fans who still treated the Walpole kid as a defector rather than a pitcher doing his job.
That history framed his latest remarks just before he makes his start against the Red Sox in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday night. Asked about quieting online trolls, Schlittler did not pretend the noise is invisible.
“I wouldn’t say I’m always on my phone looking for that stuff,” Schlittler said, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “At the same time, I don’t really live under a rock as well, so I find ways to use that to my advantage. I think I’m good at keeping receipts.” The line lands because it matches how he has handled the Boston chatter all along. He has saved messages, posted them when the moment suited him, and then taken the mound as if the comments were extra fuel rather than a distraction.
There is a particular sting in the abuse coming from the fan base he once belonged to. He has said he expected some mutual respect because he was from there.
Instead, he got personal attacks that surprised even a New Englander who understands how aggressive the region can be. He has also made a distinction he returns to often: he has no quarrel with Red Sox players or the organization.
The problem, as he sees it, is a portion of the audience that never accepted a local product wearing the other uniform.
Schlittler’s method is not to vanish from social media or to pretend the rivalry is polite. It is to notice just enough, file the receipts, and let the next start do the talking.
For a pitcher who grew up 10 miles from Fenway and now owns some of the loudest innings that park’s visitors have seen, that approach has become part of the act.
Boston fans keep writing. He keeps the messages. Then he pitches.
