Yankees Sign LHP Max Fried

The New York Yankees today announced that they have signed two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner LHP Max Fried to an eight-year Major League contract extending through the 2032 season.

Fried, 30, went 11-10 with two complete games (one shutout) and a 3.25 ERA (174.1IP, 146H, 71R/63ER, 57BB, 166K, 13HR) over 29 starts with the Atlanta Braves in 2024. He was tied for first in the Majors in complete games (tied for first in NL), ranked second in groundball percentage (59.0%, first in NL) and opponents’ slugging percentage (.315, first in NL), third groundball to flyball ratio (3.00, second in NL), sixth in home runs per 9.0 innings (0.67, fourth in NL) and seventh in opponents’ OPS (.609, fourth in NL).

In his final 27 starts of the 2024 season, Fried posted a 2.82 ERA (169.1IP, 53ER), the third-lowest ERA in the National League and the fourth-lowest in the Majors during that stretch (min. 140.0IP from April 12 - end of regular season).

Over his last five seasons (2020-24), the left-handed pitcher has gone 54-25 with five complete games (four shutouts) and a 2.81 ERA (659.0IP, 553H, 225R/206ER, 167BB, 624K, 49HR) in 112 starts. He has posted an ERA of 3.25-or-lower in each of those five seasons and his 2.81 ERA over that stretch is the lowest by any Major League pitcher that has tossed at least 500.0 innings in that span.

Since 2020, he also ranks second in winning percentage (.684) and home runs per 9.0 innings (0.67), third in groundball percentage (54.5%), opponents’ slugging percentage (.330) and opponents’ OPS (.612), fourth in groundball to flyball ratio (2.27), sixth in complete games and seventh in wins.

Fried has recorded double-digit wins in four of the last five non-shortened seasons (2019, ’21-22, ’24), tied for the fourth-most in the Majors. Over that same span, he has also made at least 28 starts four times. His 71 wins since 2019 rank second in Major League Baseball, trailing only Gerrit Cole (79).

In 168 career games (151 starts) over eight Major League seasons with the Braves (2017-24), Fried has gone 73-36 with six complete games (four shutouts) and a 3.07 ERA (884.1IP, 783H, 332R/302ER, 246BB, 863K, 76HR). Since making his debut in 2017, he ranks third in the Majors in home runs per 9.0 innings (0.77), fifth in ERA and opponents’ slugging percentage (.352), and seventh in winning percentage (.670).

Fried pitched in the postseason in each of the last seven seasons with the Braves (2018-24), winning the World Series with Atlanta in 2021 after tossing 6.0 scoreless innings in the Championship-clinching Game 6 at Houston.

He has finished in the top-five of Cy Young Award voting twice in his career (second in 2022 and fifth in 2020). Fried was the runner-up in National League Cy Young Award voting in 2022 after going 14-7 with a 2.48 ERA (185.1IP, 51ER) in 30 starts with Atlanta.

The Santa Monica, Calif., native was originally selected by San Diego in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft. He was acquired by Atlanta along with INF Jace Peterson, INF Dustin Peterson and OF Mallex Smith in exchange for OF Justin Upton and RHP Aaron Northcraft on December 19, 2014.