Max Fried’s early career struggles helping him deal with weight of $218 million Yankees contract

New Yankees ace Max Fried strikes up some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.

Q: What was that like when you visited Dachau?

A: I went back-to-back years for a couple of soccer trips with a couple of buddies, just lining it up so, like, if we went to go see Manchester City, Manchester United in England, and then we wanted to go see PSG versus Real Madrid in Madrid, and kind of scheduled our trip around that. And then the days in between we kind of just were like, “OK, well we’ve got three or four days in between, let’s go to Germany.” In that time we went to Munich and then we went outside to Dachau, and then just being able to do the sightseeing thing in Europe for the first time, but just trying to make the most of being out there. … Me growing up Jewish and understanding that I have a lot of family that were killed in the Holocaust, to be able to go and step … I’d heard about it my whole life growing up and to be able to step and kind of like feel the energy that is just still extremely … it’s heavy. … You go into the grounds and you can feel that there was definitely evil done down there. … So to be able to experience it in person … You know the evils that were done, but to be able to step on the grounds, see the gas chambers, to see the quarters, to see where they were living, working and all those little things and just being in person, in the flesh, it kind of just brought a heaviness and a weight and more of an understanding of this is something that happened in somewhat of a recent past.

Q: What family members do you know that were killed?

A: My dad’s dad side. They were from, like, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and all the borders were just kind of always getting moved, and then right before the war, they happened to move to Israel, in that region and that area, and a lot of the family that stayed put in Europe were taken to the concentration camps.

Q: What was it like pitching in the Maccabiah Games?

A: It was really cool. I was a very young 13-, 14-year old, it’s one of the first times I went away by myself without my parents, and traveled with a team, and we went across the world in Israel and being able to represent USA but also just to go and get a taste of where I have relatives that live in Israel, and also just to be able to see everything from the Dead Sea to the Wailing Wall to just everything that it brings, it was a really cool experience.

Q: What is the biggest adversity you had to overcome?

A: I had a rough year in 2017. I was in Double-A, I think at the time I was like 2-11 with a 6.00 ERA. There was definitely a moment where I had a talk with my dad of just being like, “I don’t know if I’m gonna be cut out for this.” I hadn’t made the big leagues, I was getting to be 23, 24, drafted out of high school, no college or anything. So I was like, “This might be a point where I’m not 100 percent sure.” Luckily for me I had a couple of good weeks, I got called up to the big leagues unexpectedly and just kind of put all my eggs in the basket, tried to make it work from there.

Max Fried of the Yankees throws a pitch during the first inning against the New York Mets Sunday, May 18, 2025 at Yankee Stadium.

Q: What about the Tommy John surgery in 2014? How big an obstacle was that?

A: Extremely. Twenty years old, it was something that I’d never been hurt up to that point and then I need surgery, and I get surgery and then a couple of months later I get traded [by Padres] to a new team [Braves]. A lot of uncertainty … just me moving also across the country ’cause I was in Arizona spring training and me being a California kid, I flew out to Orlando [Fla.] for spring for the first time and spent the whole entire season living in Orlando, and rehabbing and really just learning a new organization and all that.

Q: Describe your mentality on the mound.

A: Controlled aggression. I don’t want to be out of control, but it’s important for me to be on the attack and attack hitters in a way that keeps the odds on my side.

Q: You’ve been described as an artist.

A: That’s definitely an extreme compliment. Being able to change speeds, and move the ball back and forth, and have the ball move a bunch of different ways, being able to use that and utilize that in the best way possible, it’s nice.

Q: Describe the pressure of living up to your $218 million contract, and being forced into the ace role with Gerrit Cole lost for the year.

A: Once you step out on the field, it doesn’t matter what you’re making or what your stature is or if you have 15 years in the big leagues or you have one day in the big leagues. You’re going out there competing. So all of that, it’s nice for the outside, but once you step between the lines it’s very much a competition, it’s me versus you. It doesn’t matter what time you have or how you’re feeling or whatever it is, it’s time to compete today and nothing else really matters.

Q: You were a Cy Young finalist in 2022. Is that one of your major goals?

A: No. As far as like that, that’s for other people to decide. It’s important for me just to make sure that when I take the ball, the competitor I am, I just want to be able to take the ball and make sure that our team has the best chance to win. My stats, I try not to really look at them. For me, did we win the game that I pitched? And that’s really all I care about in the moment.

Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) walks off after the fifth in the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres at Yankee Stadium, Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

Q: What drives you?

A: Competition. I’m a very competitive person, whether it’s board games with my family or cards or video games or anything that involves sort of a competition or a testing or challenging mentally, I really enjoy it.

Q: How’s your chess game?

A: It’s getting better (chuckle). It’s one of those where you have to dive in and really do a lot of theory and studying. I’m getting some of the basics, but I need a lot more hours.

Q: How did the Encino wildfires in L.A. affect people you knew?

A: I was in town, I was with my girlfriend, we actually stayed at my parents’ house ’cause it was coming up on the other side of the hill, and with the winds, we just didn’t know which way they were gonna be blowing. My parents’ house is just outside of the evacuation zone, so if it blew the wrong way, we were just getting ready to get all the pictures and everything that we could to be able to run out of there at a moment’s notice.

Q: You didn’t have to evacuate?

A: No, we stayed put and then eventually it kind of died down.

Q: How scary was that?

A: It was really crazy ’cause the smoke and the air quality was terrible. A lot of people that I had grown up with or I have known lost homes, a lot in that Palisades area. It was just really sad, just kind of all over the place. It was a very somber mood in the area, a lot of people lost everything that they’ve had for forever. Anytime there’s some kind of catastrophe like that, it definitely is a reality check.

Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried (54) reacts after a double play ending the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.

Q: Tyler Skaggs’ overdose death in 2019.

A: We worked out together from the time that I got into pro ball to probably the first five or six years of my career. I would work out with a big group of guys in Malibu. And just getting to know him over the years, he was a left-handed pitcher from Los Angeles that made it to the big leagues and was someone to have to be able to look up to. He was someone that was always really great to me and always really nice to me and my family, and someone that definitely meant a lot to me in my career.

Q: Describe winning the final game of the 2021 World Series.

A: I was exhausted. I just knew that at that point it’s a long year. The first year after COVID, it was back to 162 [games] and the playoffs. I had thrown, including playoffs, right around 200 innings, which I hadn’t done before. I was just mentally and physically exhausted. That last game I gave everything that I possibly could and I had nothing left. I was elated and so happy, it was great. But I definitely remember celebrating that night, I was trying my hardest to try to stay up. I just wanted to go bed and fall asleep and just kind of, like, decompress a little.

Q: Were you part of the dog pile?

A: Oh, I ran out there, I did the whole thing. That was incredible, to be able to share that with my [Braves] teammates, and all the hard work that we put in, ’cause it was a long year of ups and downs. We were .500 for a lot of the year, had a great second half. Those guys are people that I’ll be in contact with and have something to talk about and share for the rest of our lives. It was an awesome experience.

Max Fried #54 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with teammates after their 7-0 victory against the Houston Astros in Game Six to win the 2021 World Series at Minute Maid Park on November 02, 2021 in Houston.

Q: Which was better, winning a Gold Glove or a Silver Slugger?

A: I’ll probably say Silver Slugger ’cause hitting was probably one of my favorite things to do. I still get to field, so it’s a little bit of uncertainty with the whole hitting situation with it being potentially the last year. It was nice to be able to get one.

Q: Your father idolized Sandy Koufax. Have you watched old clips of him?

A: Yeah, the ones that I can get a hold of.

Q: What do you think when you watch him?

A: Electric. Him being able to throw as much as he did, as often as he did, and complete games, and blow hitters away. The kinds of games that he had, on the stage that he did and the World Series and all that kind of stuff, and to be able to do it with two pitches, it’s extremely impressive.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Two of my grandparents that passed away, one was before I was born, and the other one was while I was younger; Albert Einstein.

Yankees pitcher Max Fried (C) is congratulated by his teammates in his team’s dugout after being taken out of the ball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.

Q: Favorite baseball movie?

A: “For Love of the Game.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Matthew McConaughey.

Q:.Favorite entertainer?

A: J. Cole.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Sushi.

Q: Have you gotten a sense for how New York embraces winners by watching the Knicks?

A: You can definitely see the enthusiasm and the excitement for the Knicks is real. I grew up a Laker fan in Los Angeles watching Kobe [Bryant] a lot, and winning in general excites a city. In New York, the fans are extremely passionate, and they want and expect winning. The Yankees have been able to do that for a while pretty consistently, and I just want to do my part.