TAMPA, Fla. — Max Fried knows how to pitch. The Yankees ace has done it at the highest level for years. But even a polished veteran can look a little rough around the edges in his first outing of the spring.
That was the case Tuesday at Steinbrenner Field, where Fried took the mound against Panama in a World Baseball Classic tune-up and worked through three scoreless innings despite shaky command. The Yankees rolled to an 11-1 win, but the bigger story was Fried’s first taste of live action this spring and what it means for the weeks ahead.
Max Fried walked three batters and allowed a soft single in his time on the mound. The Yankees ace threw 56 pitches, with only 30 of them going for strikes. The strike percentage of 53.6 percent is not where anyone wants it, least of all the left-hander himself. Still, zeroes on the scoreboard told a different story than the pitch-by-pitch data.
Double plays bail out early wildness
Fried’s first two innings followed a similar script. He fell behind hitters, missed up in the zone with his fastball and put runners on base. In each of those frames, though, he induced a double play to escape without damage.
In the first inning, Fried fell behind Jose Caballero 2-0 before coaxing a soft liner to second base. He then jumped ahead of Allen Cordoba 0-2 but walked him with fastballs well above the strike zone. It did not matter. Edmundo Sosa hit a first-pitch sinker for a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat. Six of the Yankees ace’s 11 pitches that inning landed outside the zone.
The second inning brought more of the same. A bloop single over second base and a four-pitch walk put two runners on with one out. Fried fell behind Christian Bethancourt 2-0, then got him to bounce into a 5-4-3 double play. He threw just five strikes out of 14 pitches in the frame, with most of his misses sailing high.
Fried owns up to the rust
Fried did not sugarcoat his outing when he spoke to reporters after the game.
“Definitely rusty, definitely out of sync,” Fried said. “But hit the capacity, the limit, the volume that we needed. Been doing a lot of live [batting practice sessions] in the backfields and nothing can recreate getting into a game with an umpire and different jerseys and all that.”
The Yankees star added: “Definitely was able to check the boxes off on that, but definitely rusty.”
For a veteran with seven different pitches in his arsenal, the early weeks of spring training are about feel, not results. Fried is New York’s projected Opening Day starter, and his focus right now is on sharpening each offering before the regular season arrives.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was not worried about the lack of command.
“Control was a little off, but stuff was good,” Boone said. “He was throttled back probably a hair, he was still popping some 95s in there, but for the most part trying to execute different things. He’s always working on specific things.”
Statcast data backed up the notion that Fried was not fully unleashed. His average cutter velocity was down 1.7 mph from last season, his sinker was down 1.8 mph and his fastball dropped by 1 mph. Spin rates on his curveball, sweeper and slider were also lower than his regular-season averages from 2025.
Cat and mouse on the basepaths
One bright spot for Fried came in the third inning when he got to test his pickoff skills against one of the game’s best base stealers. Yankees teammate Jose Caballero, playing for Panama in the exhibition, drew a two-out walk and danced off first base.
Fried threw over to first twice before firing a 96 mph fastball that struck out Allen Cordoba to end the inning. He relished the challenge.
“That was perfect,” Fried said. “That was exactly what I wanted. First time in a game, having one of the best base runners in the baseball trying to play a little cat and mouse game, I’m paying attention to him and trying to hold him on but also pitch and stay aggressive at the plate. Couldn’t have asked for a better little matchup there.”
Fried’s day ended four pitches into the fourth inning. He left a 2-2 count to Sosa, with reliever Tim Hill entering and recording a lineout to complete the frame.
Yankees bats come alive in support
While Fried worked through his rust, the Yankees offense gave him a comfortable cushion. Ryan McMahon, taking reps at shortstop, delivered a two-run single to left field in the first inning on a 1-2 sinker at the knees with runners on second and third. McMahon later ripped a 109.6 mph single in the fourth and finished 2-for-3 on the day, though he also committed an error on a ball up the middle and lined into an unassisted double play.
Giancarlo Stanton made his spring debut at the plate and wasted no time. After swinging through a 3-2 slider in his first at-bat, Stanton crushed a 94 mph sinker for a screaming single that left his bat at 114.3 mph to lead off the fourth. He walked in his second plate appearance and was lifted for a pinch-runner, finishing 1-for-2.
Jasson Dominguez showed off his versatility by batting from both sides of the plate. He singled softly to left from the left side in his first trip and promptly stole second. Batting right-handed in the third, he was robbed by Caballero on a diving stop of a 106.3 mph liner. Dominguez went 1-for-3.
Catcher JC Escarra provided the power highlight of the afternoon. After a single and a sacrifice fly in his first two at-bats, he launched a 363-foot, two-run homer in the fifth inning to push the score to 7-0. He finished 2-for-3.
Bullpen keeps Panama quiet
The Yankees bullpen picked up where Fried left off. Tim Hill worked a scoreless fourth despite issuing a walk and benefiting from a fielding error. He added a strikeout for good measure. Dom Hamel, the former Mets prospect, needed just 12 pitches for a 1-2-3 fifth and pitched around a leadoff single for a clean sixth. Left-hander Brent Headrick struck out two batters swinging in a 14-pitch seventh, throwing 10 strikes.
The game ended in the eighth inning after Jorbit Vivas singled to make it 11-1, triggering the 10-run mercy rule. Caballero finished 0-for-2 with a walk for Panama. Trent Grisham walked twice batting leadoff and playing center. Ben Rice drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth but went 0-for-2 at the plate.
For the Yankees, the final score was secondary. The real takeaway was that Fried got his work in, reached his pitch count and kept runners off the board despite fighting himself on the mound. The spring is long, and there is plenty of time to sharpen up before the games start to count.
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