TAMPA — By the end of his spring debut Tuesday, Max Fried was pleased that he had hit his pitch count of 56, with the side bonus of keeping Panama off the scoreboard.
It just might not have always looked pretty along the way, as the Yankees left-hander scattered three walks and one soft single across three-plus shutout innings in an 11-1 win at Steinbrenner Field.
“Definitely rusty, definitely out of sync,” Fried said. “But hit the capacity, the limit, the volume that we needed. Been doing a lot of live [batting practice sessions] in the backfields and nothing can recreate getting into a game with an umpire and different jerseys and all that.
“Definitely was able to check the boxes off on that, but definitely rusty.”
For a veteran like Fried, the results matter little at this time of the year.
But as he works to get his seven different pitches feeling sharp by the time the regular season rolls around, he is focused more on his execution.
Through his first two innings, 14 of his 25 pitches were balls, but he was able to get out of both frames by generating a double play to end each one.
“Control was a little off, but stuff was good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He was throttled back probably a hair, he was still popping some 95s in there, but for the most part trying to execute different things. He’s always working on specific things.”
That includes controlling the running game — a forte of Fried’s — so he was happy to have the challenge of teammate (and on Tuesday, Panama’s) José Caballero dancing off of first base with two outs in the third inning.
“That was perfect,” said Fried, who threw over to first base twice before delivering a 96 mph fastball that struck out Allen Córdoba to end the inning. “That was exactly what I wanted. First time in a game, having one of the best base runners in the baseball trying to play a little cat and mouse game, I’m paying attention to him and trying to hold him on but also pitch and stay aggressive at the plate. Couldn’t have asked for a better little matchup there.”
Cody Bellinger (back) took batting practice on the field Tuesday morning and is scheduled to take live batting practice Wednesday before returning to game action on Thursday.
“I think he’s fine,” Boone said.
Carlos Rodón threw a bullpen session Tuesday morning that simulated two innings and included breaking balls, a positive sign that he could be getting close to facing hitters for the first time in his rehab from elbow surgery.
