Max Fried Continues To Shine With Yankees

The New York Yankees may be getting the best version of Max Fried. That's not an easy feat for a pitcher who established himself as an ace early on in his career with the Atlanta Braves, and even helped get them their first World Series trophy since 1995.

Fried, whose contract by a left-handed pitcher surpassed David Price last winter, feels like he is a bargain given his production. In 208.2 innings across two seasons, Fried has posted a 2.67 ERA. To put that level of lefty dominance into context, CC Sabathia, who was just inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee, tossed 230 innings in his first season in the Bronx. He had a 3.76 ERA in 2009.

In that first Fried game for the season opener, he tossed 6.1 scoreless innings, but that may have come with some luck. Fried himself admitted he wasn't feeling it that game. This outing with the Mariners was different, though, and he admitted as much. Fried was crisp this time around, and the result was seven shutout innings against a squad with two MVP candidates in it.

"There weren't times where I was just fighting to throw strikes," Fried said, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. "I felt like I was actually able to locate today, which made things a lot easier."

Mar 25, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) follows through on a pitch against the San Francisco Giants in the fourth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Feeling Good

Fried struck out six during the outing and generated nine swings-and-misses, but the beauty of the outing wasn't his ability to miss bats. When the Mariners did make contact, they were effectively a collective Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

The Mariners had an average exit velocity of 84.5 MPH against Fried. They did manage to put four balls in play at over 100 MPH, but of those, two were hits, and two had negative launch angles. It was such a dominant effort that even the hard contact was lackluster.

Fried, of course, credited his teammate for the win.

"We have a lot of really talented guys that are really motivated," Fried continued. "We've been waiting for this opportunity to have the season start and go compete. We want to go win, and we're leaving everything out there."

After the game, manager Aaron Boone didn't just play up Fried. He played up the staff as a whole.

"We definitely like our pitching," Boone said. "I don't know if you draw up this many shutouts and all that early on. I don't care how good your pitching is, it doesn't usually work that seamlessly. It's a great start for those guys. They're pitching with a lot of confidence, and they're executing."

With just three earned runs in the first five games of the season, it's hard to find a better start for a pitching staff. It's still too early to make any bold declarations, but there could be something brewing here. It's best not to make any proclamations so early on, in case the vibes get jinxed.

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