The New York Yankees could get Max Fried back in the very near future.
Fried has been on the IL since May 16 due to a left elbow bone bruise. With him approaching a month on the IL, he’s starting to ramp up and is getting closer to making a rehab start.
During the Yankees series against the Cleveland Guardians, New York gave an update on Fried, who’s getting closer to throwing off a mound.
“After meeting with the doc, Max Fried will continue to ramp up his throwing program. Aaron Boone said. He’s been throwing at 75 feet and will look to get to 90 or beyond over the next week. He’s also expected to undergo reimaging later next week to see if he can graduate to mound work,” New York Daily News’ Gary Phillips wrote on X.
Getting Fried back will only further bolster the Yankees’ rotation, which features the likes of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Ryan Weathers. Clarke Schmidt, meanwhile, is also injured and could return later this season to add even more depth to the rotation.
Before the injury, Fried was the Yankees’ ace, especially with Cole and Rodon working their way back from injury. He went 4-3 with a 3.21 ERA in 10 starts before the injury.
Fried ‘Happy’ to Avoid Serious Injury
Although Fried was disappointed he had to land on the IL, at the time, the injury didn’t seem serious.
Instead, Fried was expected to be shut down from throwing for at least a few weeks. However, that was positive, as an elbow injury could have been much worse.
“I’m definitely bummed that I’m going to have to be missing some time, but overall happy that it doesn’t look like it’s going to be anything serious – no surgery required or anything like that,” Fried said after he went on the IL. “You never want to go on the IL and miss games. But you also understand the long-term outlook still looks good.”
Fried, who had undergone Tommy John surgery in 2014, avoided any major injury to his ligaments, which was good news.
“In some ways, it’s good news,” Boone said. “The ligament is in good shape. It’s just a matter of how the timeline is going to shake out. Long-term, I feel like we’re in an OK spot. We’ll just listen to the body here over the next days and weeks and see what ultimately that timeline leads to.”
The Yankees signed Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract in December of 2024.
Yankees Looking to Avoid Being Swept
Although New York is dealing with some key injuries, the Yankees know they have to play better than they have been.
The Yankees dropped the first two games to the Guardians. So, the team will look to avoid being swept on Thursday after a 5-4 loss on Wednesday.
“Take your hats off to them; they took some good swings and beat us,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said postgame. … “They’ve been playing pretty good baseball, putting the ball in play against really good pitchers. All of our pitchers are pretty dominant out there normally. They’ve been going out there and attacking our pitchers, taking all the right pitches and swinging at all the right ones as well.”
The Yankees are now 36-25 and are 1 game back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the top spot in the AL East.
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