Tampa: Max Fried’s First Season Reflection

Max Fried’s first season with the Yankees was, for the most part, quite successful.

However, the way it ended—getting crushed by the Blue Jays—has lingered in Fried’s mind since. It’s been tough to move past that, especially after an early playoff exit.

“You try to push it aside, you know? You don’t want it to affect your daily life,” Fried remarked after the initial practice for pitchers and catchers at Steinbrenner Field. “But every time I’m at the gym or handling something baseball-related, it definitely drives me. You want to improve, learn from what went wrong, and not repeat those mistakes. I keep that feeling in mind as motivation to get better each year.”

This past regular season was impressive for Fried, sporting a 2.86 ERA across 32 starts and placing fourth in the AL Cy Young voting. He even pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in his first playoff appearance against the Red Sox.

But things took a turn in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays. The Yankees, already down a game, needed a solid performance, but Fried’s outing was far from it. He lasted just over three innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks, leading to a disappointing 13-7 loss.

With the season ending two games later, Fried felt he couldn’t quite redeem himself after that disappointing performance in what had otherwise been a strong first season in New York.

“We had a solid year overall, but we just didn’t kick off the postseason the way we needed to,” Fried said, expressing a lingering disappointment. “It certainly left a bad taste and fueled my motivation for the offseason.”

Despite that heavy workload—195¹/₃ innings in regular-season play and another 9¹/₃ in the playoffs—Fried managed to keep his focus sharp for the upcoming season.

“I felt great at the year’s end,” he said, recalling facing hitters at the Player Development Facility. “In my last start, I was throwing harder than I had all year. I was genuinely excited about the chance to start again, rather than just idling until the offseason or anything like that. I felt as good as ever.”

While Fried had to watch the World Series unfold from his couch, he remains optimistic about the Yankees’ chances this year.

“I really think our group has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with anyone talent-wise,” he acknowledged. “Sure, we didn’t achieve what we wanted in the series. A major part of that was simply not pitching to our potential or staying competitive in the games.”