Max Fried’s decision about pitching in the World Baseball Classic is bad news for USA Baseball fans yet should come as a relief to fans of the New York Yankees.
According to Jack Curry of YES Network, Fried opted out of the upcoming WBC to prepare for the 2026 Yankees season.
Fried, of course, was the Yankees ace in 2025 by leading the majors with 19 wins and pitching to a 2.86 ERA in 32 starts. He finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting and won a Gold Glove for the fourth time in his career in his first year after signing an eight-year, $218 million contract last December.
Fried helped New York finish with a 94-68 record, even with the pennant-winning Toronto Blue Jays for the best record in the American League.
Max Fried Will Not Pitch In The World Baseball Classic
Curry reported USA manager Mark DeRosa invited Fried to pitch in the WBC, but Fried turned down that invitation. Fried, a native of Santa Monica, California who went to Harvard-Westlake High School, has not represented the USA over his nine-year MLB career.
Still, Fried chose his club team over his country for the international tournament that will run from March 5-17. The United States had until Dec. 3 to cut their initial 50-man roster to 35, and the final 30-man roster must be settled on by Feb. 3. Final rosters for each country will be announced ahead of the start of the tournament.
Even without Fried, the U.S. pitching staff should be dominant, since NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes has committed to the tournament. The Yankees will also be represented, since fellow California native and two-time-reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge is going to participate in the event, barring an injury.
The Yankees Need Max Fried Healthy In The First Half Of 2026
Yankees fans may be disappointed that Fried will not be pitching in the star-studded preseason event, but his not pitching in the event is a good development for the team’s 2026 prospects.
The Yankees are slated to be down three starting pitchers for Opening Day, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt. Cole and Rodon are ace-caliber starting pitchers — Rodon was second in the AL in wins (18) in 2025 — and Schmidt appeared to finally be figuring it out when he needed Tommy John surgery last July.
So the Yankees really need a healthy Fried available to be the frontline starter, especially in the first half of the season. Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough could hold the Yankees staff afloat behind Fried, and GM Brian Cashman could still bring in a starting pitcher ahead of the season.
But it’d be expecting a lot of that group to keep the Yankees afloat over a two-to-three-month period without Fried.
Cole and Rodon are expected back by the All-Star Break, and Schmidt could be back by then too, but if something happened to Fried in an exhibition tournament — a la Edwin Diaz in the 2023 WBC — the 2026 Yankees season could be over before it started.
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