New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried is off to a great start in his first season in pinstripes, and he turned in another great outing on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, drawing high praise from captain Aaron Judge.

“He's incredible,” Aaron Judge said, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “Everything that people have said about him from afar, he's the real deal. You see it up close, especially to lose a guy like Gerrit Cole, who you can't replace, and then you sub in Max Fried to go and be that ace for us. It's been fun to watch.”

Fried turned in perhaps his best outing as a Yankee so far on Sunday, and there are multiple to choose from. In the Yankees' 4-0 win, Fried went 7.2 innings with two strikeouts while giving up just two hits and walking two batters. He seemingly took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before the official scoring was changed from an error to a hit on a play in the sixth inning. Fried gave up a single in the eighth inning anyway.

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Still, Fried has stepped up and performed like an ace when the Yankees have needed it. With Gerrit Cole out for the entire 2025 season, Fried is atop the rotation.

The 4-0 win for the Yankees helped them improve to 14-8 on the season before they play a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians to close out their current road trip. It has been a successful trip so far for New York, as they took three out of four games from Tampa Bay. The one loss came on Saturday in extra innings after blowing an 8-4 lead in the ninth inning.

Closer Devin Williams is working through his struggles in the early going, but the Yankees have gotten off to a solid start this season, and Fried has played a big part in that.