Aaron Boone Confirms Big Announcement for ‘Really Sharp’ Yankees Pitcher

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Aaron Boone announced the Yankees’ Opening Day starter.

The New York Yankees announced their Opening Day starter Monday, and to no one’s surprise, it’ll be their 2025 ace on the hill for the season opener in two weeks in San Francisco.

Manager Aaron Boone confirmed Max Fried would be the starter on Opening Night against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on March 25.

Though Carlos Rodon started Opening Day last year, Fried was the Yankees’ Game 1 starter in each of their two 2025 postseason series after leading the majors in wins (19). He finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting in his first year with the Yankees after signing a seven-year, $219 million contract with New York during the 2024 offseason.

Max Fried Will Start Opening Day for the Yankees

Though he may not have intended to break news, Boone did when asked if Fried would be the Yankees’ starter in the nationally televised season opener.

“It’ll be Max, yeah,” Boone told NJ.com.

Fried was the logical choice since he has started a pair of season openers — and was the Yankees’ No. 1 starter while Gerrit Cole was recovering from Tommy John surgery last year. Both Cole and Rodon will start the season on the injured list but are expected to be back with the Yankees during the first half of the season.

Fried skipped the World Baseball Classic so he could focus on ramping up for the upcoming season. So while the United States was holding off Mexico in pool play, the Yankees’ lefty ace was throwing a spring-high 67 pitches while striking out six over four effective innings of two-hit, one-run ball against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

“I thought he looked great,” Boone said. “I told him that was fun to watch because it was kind of one of those nights where he had it all working. I thought he got into a really good rhythm having a little bit of length in there with the (67) pitches.

“I thought his cutter was really good early. The four-seem (fastball) he finished a couple guys with, then (he threw) some really good changeups. He spun the ball well. I thought he was really sharp.”

Max Fried is Feeling Good

With Cole and Rodon on the shelf, and an average age of 26 for the other four Yankees starters in their rotation behind Fried, Yankees fans are rightly holding their breath every time Fried takes the hill this spring.

But after building up to nearly 70 pitches, and departing after giving up a home run to Endy Rodriguez, Fried felt great about his outing at Steinbrenner Field against the Pirates. Fried was excited to put his three-walk outing against Team Panama on March 3 behind him.

“As far as last time to this time, way better,” Fried told NJ.com. “More consistent. I was able to execute what I wanted to do and being able to focus a little bit more on my game plan, my process.”

Fried should make two more starts and build up to about 90 pitches in time for the season opener, though cold weather and the night start in San Francisco may have an impact on that.

Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens