When the New York Yankees initially announced that Max Fried left Wednesday’s 7-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles with posterior soreness in his left elbow, an orthopedic surgeon interviewed by The Athletic thought the designation was notable.
“They probably said that (posterior) because he’s had (a) previous Tommy John, and they didn’t want it to be confused with his prior Tommy John surgery,” said Dr. Laith Jazrawi, chief of sports medicine at NYU Langone. “That’s probably why they were a little more specific on this one. … Having posterior elbow pain in a pitcher or in an overhead athlete, there are certain things that are specific that we see with them.”
Jazrawi, who has not treated Fried nor seen his medicals, said posterior soreness isn’t “atypical” for pitchers and isn’t “uncommon for someone who’s had a prior Tommy John surgery.”
The 32-year-old Fried, who had Tommy John surgery in 2014, was removed after just 61 pitches. He gave up five hits and three earned runs in three innings, striking out two and walking one. Fried will undergo tests on Thursday in New York City.
Fried said he felt hyperextension, or the feeling you get when you “bang the back of that elbow, tricep area.” He added that he expects to be on the mound “sooner rather than later.” Manager Aaron Boone said he was “not that concerned” after talking to Fried about it.
“You could have triceps tendonitis,” Jazrawi said. “You could have loose bodies back there. … You could have spurs back there.” The bone spurs could be created as a result of the “sheer force” exerted on the elbow.
“There’s (numerous) reasons” Fried could be experiencing elbow pain, Jazrawi said.
Jazrawi added that doctors would certainly examine Fried’s UCL, but that “it’s usually pretty good” for players who have already undergone Tommy John. But there could be reason for concern.
“Could the ligament be failing again, like it failed the first time?” the doctor said. “Absolutely. And one of the early signs of that is posterior elbow pain, which you can get. Or, more than likely, if he had Tommy John a while ago … (it could be) posterior elbow spurs.
“Obviously, they’re going to look at the integrity of the ligament. My guess is that it’s going to show increased signal but an intact ligament. That’s what we usually see with these. But he’s an older player, he’s had a Tommy John a long time ago.”
Any long-term injury to Fried would be terrible news to the Yankees, who have mostly been healthy, save for the right calf strain that put Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list.
In the next couple weeks, they expect Gerrit Cole to finish his own Tommy John surgery rehabilitation and return to the rotation. Carlos Rodón made his season debut last week. Together with Fried, they represent the Yankees’ trio of starters with nine-figure contracts. In the interim, the club has received strong starting pitching from Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.
Going into Wednesday, Fried hadn’t been quite the same pitcher he was last year, when he finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting and received his third All-Star nomination, finishing with a 19-5 record and a 2.86 ERA in a career-high 32 starts.
His overall numbers had been strong (2.91 ERA, nine starts), but his walks were slightly up and his strikeouts were slightly down. Recently, he abandoned pitching from the windup in favor of pitching exclusively from the stretch to help corral his command. His average fastball velocity (93.8 mph) had also dipped from where it was in 2025 (94.8 mph).