Amid threats, Yanks' Schlittler excited to face Sox

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler said he and his family have received death threats ahead of his start against the Boston Red Sox, but he's "excited" to be making his Fenway Park debut Thursday.

Schlittler, who grew up as a Red Sox fan in Walpole, which is about 40 miles from Fenway Park, told the New York Post that he hasn't felt the need to get police involved, and he told The Athletic that Red Sox fans troll him "every week ... every day."

"Most normal fans could care less, right?" Schlittler told the New York Post. "It's just those diehards that just have nothing else in their lives other than baseball or sports that really care about this, and the fact that I play for the Yankees makes it worse for them."

Schlittler is 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 27⅔ innings this season.

"It's gonna be bad, it's gonna be bad. I'm not nervous about it, but it's gonna be loud," Schlittler told the Post. "They're gonna probably have dudes that are my age or a little bit younger, sitting right outside the [visiting] bullpen, yelling whatever, probably throwing stuff at me, trying to grab me.

"That's kind of what I expect. So I know the guys are excited for it and I'm excited for it."

It's not the first time that Red Sox fans have trolled Schlittler via social media.

"[You'd] think after last time, how much they were talking before, that they might be trying to quiet it down a little bit." Schlittler told The Athletic.

That last time, Schlittler threw eight scoreless innings in Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series to send the Red Sox packing last season. He had 12 strikeouts in the game and, afterward, said the win was "personal" after Boston fans had harassed him and his family.

"There's a line and I think they crossed it a little bit," Schlittler said after the Game 3 win. "I'm a competitor, and I'm gonna go out there and make sure I shut them down.

​"You know Boston fans, that's just how it is. We're aggressive back home and we're gonna try to get under people's skin. They just picked the wrong guy to do it to and the wrong team to do it to."

Schlitter told The Athletic this week that his comments after that game "kind of lit the fire a little bit."

"If you're going to dish it out," Schlittler said, "you're going to have to take it."