New York Yankees Heap Praise on Newest All-Star Free-Agent Signing

So far, the New York Yankees' newest addition to their starting rotation has been heaped with praise by his teammates and coaches.

Feb 13, 2025; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) gives a press conference during spring training workouts at George M. Steinbrenner Field. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

With pitchers and catchers reporting for the New York Yankees, some of their new faces have already started to impress.

This offseason, arguably the biggest move for the Yankees was the signing of All-Star southpaw Max Fried.

The addition of Fried was the first step in the right direction after missing out on Juan Soto. While the starting rotation was solid for New York in 2024, adding Fried takes it to the next level.

Furthermore, the left-hander will be joining a rotation that has 2023 Cy Young award winner in Gerrit Cole and the reigning Rookie of the Year in Luis Gil. This unit is oozing with talent and could be one of the best rotations in the league from top to bottom.

Recently, his new teammate and running mate at the top of the rotation had some high praise for one of the new additions for the Yankees.

“An excellent addition, a unique talent,’’ Cole said of Fried to Pete Caldera of NorthJersey.com. “There’s a lot of things he can do with the baseball and he’s a highly regarded teammate as well.

Since starting with the Atlanta Braves in 2017, the 31-year-old has been one of the better pitchers in baseball during that stretch. He has a career record of 73-36 with a 3.07 ERA and has had multiple seasons with an ERA under 3.00.

Despite having one of the best curveballs in the game, Fried hasn’t been known as a strikeout pitcher. This appears to be something that New York will be working on with him to potentially help him improve in that area.

A lot of the All-Star’s success has been generating ground balls and soft contact. On days when he pitches, the Yankees are going to have to be on their toes in the infield. However, Fried does a great job helping out by fielding his position at a gold glove level.

With success in the postseason being the ultimate goal for New York, this will be an area that they hope Fried can be better at. So far in his postseason career, he is 2-5 with a 5.10 ERA in 67 innings pitched.

Even though the statistics aren’t great overall in the postseason, he did help the Braves win a World Series title in 2021 and pitched well in the playoffs that year.

Overall, it is great to see Fried fitting in well with his new teammates and earning praise already. The Yankees will be expecting a lot of him in the coming years and he seems to be off to a solid start.