Max Fried is already pushing his way into the early Cy Young conversation, and one voter says the Yankees left-hander belongs in it. Andrew Greif picked Fried as his American League choice after the lefty opened the season with 14 strikeouts and only three earned runs through three starts.
That makes the pick notable because Tarik Skubal is still the prohibitive favorite after winning the award in back-to-back seasons. Greif wrote that Fried is a workhorse, and that he will have a chance to make his case in a number of high-profile starts. In the first weeks of the season, that kind of workload matters as much as any hot streak.
Greif’s ballot also leaned into familiar names at the top of the sport. He picked Yordan Alvarez for American League MVP and Shohei Ohtani for National League MVP, while Tim Rohan went with Bobby Witt Jr. in the AL and Ohtani in the NL, and Greg Rosenstein backed Aaron Judge in the AL and Ohtani in the NL.
Ohtani’s place in the race comes with its own unusual twist. Greif wrote that the two-way star will try to become the first player since Barry Bonds to win three consecutive National League MVP awards, after taking American League MVP honors in 2023 and 2021. Last season, while returning from arm surgery, he appeared in 14 games as a pitcher, and Greif said his pitching appearances should go up this year.
The early pitching board is still shifting beneath those familiar stars. As of April 7, Randy Vasquez led National League pitchers in WAR, Paul Skenes carried a 9.53 ERA, and Sandy Alcantara had thrown one complete-game shutout and not allowed a run in either of his first two starts. Greif’s warning was plain: do not sleep on Alcantara, whose stuff, he wrote, is filthy.
For Fried, the next stretch will say more than any early ballot. The Yankees will keep putting him in the games that matter most, and if he keeps missing bats and limiting damage, the Cy Young race may start looking less settled than it did a week ago.
