New York Yankees Ace Part of Two-Man Race for AL Cy Young in First Poll

The New York Yankees newly-acquired ace from this offseason has made a fantastic first impression, establishing himself near the top of the AL Cy Young race.

May 2, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried (54) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at Yankee Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees pulled out all the stops earlier this offseason when they signed starting pitcher Max Fried to a massive eight-year, $218 million contract this offseason.

It was an exciting contract at the time, but proved to be even more important of a move after the team lost Gerrit Cole for the year.

Fried has been much more dominant than expected and has established himself near the top of the AL Cy Young Race, as proven by MLB.com's first Cy Young poll of the 2025 campaign.

Where does Max Fried rank in the Cy Young Poll?

The Yankees finished in second place in the AL with 13 first-place votes. It was last season's winner, Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers, that ended up in first place with 19 votes.

It is really shaping up to be a two-man race as the third-place man, Garrett Crochet, had just three first-place votes. All three pitchers have played great though and it's a long season so it is anyone's award to win right now.

Fried has been utterly dominant this season. Through eight starts, he has an MLB-best 1.05 ERA with a 0.910 WHIP and 8.2 K/9.

He has 47 strikeouts to just 11 walks through 51.2 innings of work to start the year. His 376 ERA+ is also the best mark in the league.

The 31-year-old doesn't have an overwhelming fastball or absurd stuff on his pitches, but he has excellent control of a six-pitch mix with a range of velocities that makes it hard for a batter to read.

He does have a career-high Stuff+ of 107, though, thanks to an improving curveball and sinker. Whatever adjustments the New York pitching coaches made with him this offseason have worked wonders.

As much as he has earned his AL Cy Young contention, he really does also have an argument for Most Valuable Player, if the award was true to it's name.

Of course, the AL MVP will likely be Fried's teammate in Aaron Judge, but who knows where the Yankees would be without the pitcher's contributions.

New York is 8-0 in games that he has pitched and no other player on that staff has been anywhere near as consistent or reliable.

Carlos Rodon hit a groove for a little bit, but got hit for four runs again in his last outing. He's been their second-best pitcher and the team is 4-5 in his starts.

Rodon was a part of the "others receiving votes" section of the poll results.

As long as Fried can keep his play up, he will be an extremely important part of their postseason push.

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