When Max Fried spoke following his final start of the regular season last Wednesday, he was asked what he thought of this first season in pinstripes.
“Not finished yet,” Fried replied, matter of fact.
The left-hander may still be relatively new to the Yankees, but he knows what they’re all about. And after winning a championship with the Braves in 2021, he knows what that takes, too.
“It’s been very apparent that the goal of this team is to go to the playoffs, get deep in the playoffs, and win the World Series,” said Fried, who attended Game 1 of the 2024 Fall Classic, which the Yankees lost to the Dodgers, so that he could support high school teammate Jack Flaherty. “I like to put a lot of team goals in front of how I individually do, so if we come out and go deep in the playoffs and win a World Series, then I’ll say it was pretty successful, but we got a long way to go.”
If that quote didn’t make it clear, Fried understands the assignment that awaits him on Tuesday in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, and for the rest of October should the Yankees get past the rival Red Sox.
Fried has already proven himself to be an ace, going 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA. He will earn down-ballot Cy Young votes after setting career-highs in wins, starts (32), innings pitched (195.1) and strikeouts (189).
Those regular season numbers – pristine in spite of an eight-start stretch that saw Fried post a 6.80 ERA from June 1 to Aug. 16 – gave the Yankees a worthwhile initial return on their investment, as the eight-year, $218 million contract the pitcher inked in December marked the largest guarantee ever given to a lefty.
Initially seen as the biggest splash in the Bombers’ post-Juan Soto pivot, Fried wasn’t supposed to be the Yankees’ No. 1 starter. That title has belonged to Gerrit Cole for years, but the 2023 Cy Young winner underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training, creating a crater atop a Yankees rotation that also lost Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt to injury along the way.
Carlos Rodón, slated to start Game 2 after enjoying his best season as a Yankee, acknowledged that he and Fried had “big shoes to fill” in Cole’s absence, but they did that seamlessly, combining for a 37-14 record and a 2.97 ERA over 65 starts and 390.2 innings.
“Gerrit’s been such a horse and, obviously, our ace now for so long,” Aaron Boone said. “When that goes away in the middle of spring training, that’s a real void. How you gonna make that up?
“Max has come in and been an ace and been a horse and been that guy you want at the top of the rotation.”
Boone is hardly the only Yankee that shares that opinion of Fried, who has taken on some of Cole’s off-the-mound responsibilities as well.
“He’s been an ace,” Aaron Judge said before adding, “You see the work he’s done with a lot of our younger guys, talking about game-planning, pitching. It’s almost like having another Gerrit.”
Now the Yankees are hoping that Fried can mimic Cole’s postseason success, as the latter has a 2.77 ERA over 22 playoff starts. That includes a 2.93 ERA over 12 playoff starts with the Yankees and a 0.71 ERA over two starts in last year’s World Series, though Cole certainly contributed to the team’s sloppy fifth inning in a decisive Game 5 loss to the Dodgers.
Fried, who will throw to Austin Wells on Tuesday, has been more of a mixed bag in October, recording a 5.10 ERA over 67 innings (20 games, 12 starts) for the Braves. The 31-year-old’s worst playoff start was also his last as a Brave, as he surrendered five earned runs over just two innings to the Padres in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series last season.
Fried has allowed 12 earned runs over 9.1 innings in his last three postseason starts and owns a 6.08 ERA over his last eight playoff games dating back to 2021. However, that stretch includes six scoreless innings in Game 5 of the 2021 World Series, which secured a title for Atlanta.
That is the version of Fried the Yankees hope to see on Tuesday.
“It’s all about how you learn from it and how you’re able to kind of use that experience to go forward,” Fried said Monday of his past playoff exploits. “So I’ll obviously be leaning on that, but this is its own game. New thing, new season, new circumstances, so I’m really excited for that.”
Fried – who has a 1.96 ERA over three starts and 18.1 innings this season against a Red Sox club that pursued him over the winter – won’t be the only ace on the mound Tuesday, as the Yankees have to go up against Boston left-hander Garrett Crochet.
Boone labeled Crochet “one of the game’s best,” while Fried said “his stuff is off the charts.” Crochet finished the regular season with an 18-5 record, a 2.59 ERA and a major league-leading 255 strikeouts over 32 starts and 205.1 innings.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game, probably between him and [Tarik] Skubal,” Paul Goldschmidt said. “One of them is going to win the Cy Young this year.”
Goldschmidt added that Crochet, who has only pitched out of the bullpen in October, presents a “tough challenge,” as he posted a 3.29 ERA over four starts against the Yankees this season, totaling 10 earned runs, four walks and 39 strikeouts over 27.1 innings. He surrendered an uncharacteristic five earned runs in their first matchup on June 7 before totaling five earned runs over his next three.
With Crochet having plenty of success against the Yankees this year, Fried knows he will have to be at his best when he’s introduced to postseason baseball in the Bronx. He’s looking forward to the task, stating that he plans on “leaving 100% of everything I have out there.”
“There’s no guarantee that I’ll have another start,” Fried continued. “From here on out, this could be the last one, so we’re going to empty the tank.”
