Meet the Yankees’ newest star pitcher, Max Fried

It wasn’t that long ago that Max Fried played the game of his life.

The lanky left-hander threw six shutout innings in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series on the night the Atlanta Braves won the championship over the Houston Astros.

The Yankees hope there will be more prime-time appearances like this in the future.

Fried agreed to an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees as the team lost its superstar Juan Soto to the Mets for the first time. It’s the biggest guarantee ever given to a left-handed pitcher.

So what do the Yankees get for all that money?

Fried, who turns 31 next month, has consistently been among MLB’s best pitchers since becoming a full-time member of the Braves rotation in 2019.

His 3.08 ERA over the past six seasons ranks third among starters who have thrown at least 800 innings, trailing only new teammate Gerrit Cole’s 2.98 and Corbin Burnes’ 3.03.

His 71 wins rank second to Cole’s 79.

He ranks third in ground ball rate (54.0%); seventh in walks per nine innings (2.32); and ninth in WAR (18.3).

He is a two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner.

In fact, Fried is a frontline starter who slots in nicely behind Cole in the Yankees’ rotation, giving them a premier one-two punch that few teams can match.

But Fried finds success differently than many other stars of his time. He’s not much of a swing-and-miss pitcher, although he averaged 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings in his career. And while Fried wields a four-seam fastball that he can reach up to 97 mph, the left-hander relies more on inducing soft contact with a seven-pitch mix that keeps hitters off balance.

His fastball cuts righties. According to FanGraphs, his stored curveball has an induced vertical break of -17 inches, ranking among the league leaders. His sinker, changeup and sweeper are also supporting weapons.

In none of the past five seasons has Fried ranked below the 81st percentile among MLB starters in hard-hit rate.

“By peripheral standards, Max Fried is nothing special,” FanGraphs wrote in a recent analysis. “Over his career, his strikeout and walk rates are about league average. But as a result, he looks like a Hall of Famer.”

Fried brings a different look to a Yankees rotation by utilizing the power army of right-handers Cole and Luis Gil and left-hander Carlos Rodón.

His arrival allows Rodón, who just went 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA, to become the No. 3 starter in the rotation, although the Yankees could use a right-hander between the two lefties.

Regardless of how the rotation is constructed, Fried bolsters an already strong roster that also includes Clarke Schmidt, who posted a 2.85 ERA in a breakout 2024 season, as well as Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman. Fried’s addition also gives the Yankees the opportunity to explore trades involving one of their starters as they look to fill Soto’s void in the outfield and lineup.

The 6-4 Fried is from the Los Angeles area, where his high school teammates at Harvard-Westlake included MLB pitchers Jack Flaherty and Lucas Giolito.

The San Diego Padres drafted Fried with the No. 7 overall pick out of high school in 2012 and he quickly rose up the prospect rankings before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014. Later that same year, the Padres traded Fried to Atlanta for Justin Upton.

Fried made his MLB debut in 2017. He earned his first All-Star selection in 2020 when he went 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA over 11 starts in the COVID-shortened season.

He played a starring role in the Braves’ 2021 playoff run, going 2-2 with a 4.23 ERA – including the gem in Game 6 in Houston – despite going 2-5 overall in his postseason career with one ERA of 5.10 stands.

Fried was an All-Star again in 2022, a season he finished with a 2.48 ERA in a career-high 185.1 innings. He finished second in National League Cy Young Award voting that year.

By his high standards, Fried has had a relatively weak season. In 2024, he went 11-10 while his ERA of 3.25 was his highest since 2019. However, left forearm neuritis interrupted Fried’s season and he endured a tough August upon his return, driving up his overall numbers.

He once again excelled at missing the barrel of bats and getting ground balls, while his four-seam fastball averaged 93.9 mph, equal to his career rate.

Fried went 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA in 18.0 innings over three career starts against the Yankees, including a six-inning, one-run game in the Bronx this year.

And while the eight years the Yankees signed Fried were more than many expected from him, his average annual salary of $27.25 million has a chance of being a bargain. In the same free agent market, the Los Angeles Dodgers just handed out a five-year, $182 million contract to left-hander Blake Snell for an average salary of $36.4 million.

That should give the Yankees a little extra financial flexibility as they fill out the rest of their 2025 roster, with left field, first base and either second or third base being a priority.

Those positions remain uncertain, but what is certain is that the Yankees’ rotation appears to be much stronger with Fried at the helm.