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NEW YORK — Max Fried has always been a surgeon on the mound, and nothing has changed with the Yankees. After the team lost Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery, it was seen as a major setback for New York, knocking it out of the conversation as division favorite. Keep in mind, the club also lost right-hander Luis Gil to a lat strain in March, creating more question marks before the 2025 season began.
But heading into the weekend, the Yankees (42-25) remain atop the American League East, trailing only the Tigers in the AL standings. Carlos Rodón has helped carry the load for New York, but Max Fried is on a run worthy of Cy Young consideration.
Following his most recent start against the Royals on Tuesday — where Fried yielded just two runs — the left-hjander holds a 1.84 ERA in 14 starts to go along with a 0.93 WHIP.
If there wasn’t a starter by the name of Tarik Skubal, Fried might be the favorite for a Cy Young award (he currently has the second-best AL Cy Young odds at FanDuel with +850 chances).
His success shouldn’t be a surprise. He’s done it for his entire tenure, the first eight years of which came with the Braves. But pitchers evolve and tweak here and there in a game of constant adjustments.
Fried is no different.
For the first few years of Fried’s career, he relied heavily on his four-seam fastball, throwing it more than 50% of the time through 2019. Over the next few seasons, he backed off, using it about 30% of the time from 2022 to 2024. Now, though, his fastball usage is back up to nearly 40%.
“It makes it tough in the league, especially now where baseball’s at, where people love their offspeed pitches,” Yankee superstar Aaron Judge told CBS Sports. “[Pitchers] I feel are creating new pitches every single year. And then to have a guy that works his fastball in any count, any situation, has a couple different forms of it, from a four-seamer to a cut-fastball to a sinker. He comes after hitters, which makes it tough.
“Especially for me, being in the box where you’re trying to be offensive and on the attack and you have a guy on the mound attacking you with every single pitch. It just makes for a tough day.”
The reintroduction of Fried’s four-seamer wasn’t the result of some revelation, according to Fried. As much as the game plans, Fried is a feel-based pitcher, too, who adjusts to what the game calls for.
But the ability to spin a fastball at varying speeds and throw it for strikes has given opponents fits — they’re hitting just .149 against it.
“I love watching him pitch with it,” Yankee manager Aaron Boone said. “There’s a big variation with it. You’ll see sometimes 90 [miles per hour] at the lowest and up to 97-98 when he really steps on one. So, he’s a master of changing speeds with really all of his pitches, and it’s something that really serves him well.”
So what about the sweeper?
Historically, Fried leaned on a vertical approach (fastball-curveball) to get hitters out. But the sweeper is something that changes the eye level of the hitter, making even more difficult to deal with.
“The [sweeper] has anywhere from 15 to 20 inches of horizontal break, and then my curveballs got anywhere from 15 to 20 inches of vertical break,” Fried said. “So, just trying to disguise each one and make it a little bit harder for a hitter to see it.”
Everyone sees the year Fried is having. There’s no disguising that.
More MLB notes
- Speaking of pitching, the Yankees come to Boston for a three-game set against the Red Sox beginning Friday evening. Manager Alex Cora praised the Yankees’ pitching, which ranked fifth in the American League in starters’ ERA at 3.66. “They still pitch,” Cora said while also praising Judge. “That’s why they are where they are.”
- Is anyone paying attention to what the Rangers’ pitching staff is doing? The club ranks third in the majors with a 3.05 ERA from its starters. Dave Bush is the assistant pitching coach for that club. The Red Sox parted ways with Bush following the 2023 season in hopes of building better pitching infrastructure under Craig Breslow, who hired Andrew Bailey. Red Sox starters rank 24th in ERA this season (4.50).
- Speaking of Red Sox starters, what a bizarre story this week involving Boston rookie Hunter Dobbins. He told the Boston Herald he would rather retire than play for the Yankees. Within that story, Dobbins said his dad was drafted by the Yankees twice, was traded to the Diamondbacks, and was good friends with Andy Pettite. The New York Post later revealed Dobbins’ dad was not telling the truth. Dobbins, who spoke to the media Wednesday in Boston, said he would never “fact check” his dad.
- Is Fernando Tatis Jr. the Ja Morant of MLB? Both are otherworldly talents whose mistakes — Tatis tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was suspended, and Morant couldn’t stop flashing guns on Instagram and was suspended — have dimmed their shine just as they seemed primed to become the face of their leagues. Tatis, much like Morant this season, has been just OK. Tatis got off to a hot start, but has since dipped, batting .259/.342/.454 with a .796 OPS and 13 homers. Those numbers are still respectable, but not for a talent like Tatis
- I was out on the Blue Jays after years of having them in the playoff hunt. This season, though, they have decided to live up to their talent, winning 13 of their last 16 games.
- When Giants third baseman Matt Chapman hurt his hand diving back to the bag in Monday’s matchup against the Braves and stayed down for a while in clear pain, you knew something was wrong. He ended up with sprained ligaments but hopes to be back before the All-Star break. Chapman prides himself on posting and will play through injuries until he can’t. The Giants have finally seemed to hit their stride under new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who values traditional scouting.
