A biography for Max Friedhasn’t been written yet.
“I think it's important to know it's a long season and obviously every game counts the exact same.”
“I've been told that my biggest enemy is me.”
“At the end of the day, strikeouts come from consistent shapes of pitches in good locations.”
“I was able to have some success, and with that comes confidence.”
“In my opinion, nothing is going to break as much as Sandy Koufax's curveball. Out of his hand, it seemed just like a fastball and at the last second dropped off. Hitters had no idea what was coming.”
“I've played outfield growing up and first base.”
“I was trying to establish myself in the big leagues and trying to find ways to stick. If my team won the games that I pitched, then I was going to probably stick around and not go up and down on the option train.”
“At the end of the day, no one is Gerrit Cole, right?”
“Baseball is a crazy game.”
“A lot of guys support me and give me the confidence to go out there and be the player I want to be.”
“This is what we play for, meaningful baseball in September.”
“For me, I have to be Max Fried. I can't try to fill anyone else's shoes.”
“When I prep, I just want to make sure that I'm leaving everything out there, no matter how I feel or what the circumstances are.”
“Do I think that sometimes the balls on some days, am I sweating a little bit more and I have a little less grip on the ball? Absolutely. Other days, are there days when I feel great and the ball feels great? Yes.”
“I'm at my best when I'm not thinking and I'm leaving it all out there.”
“There's a correlation to it: The more velocity you have, the more stress it puts on joints, ligaments, etc.”
“When I have more of a pitch-by-pitch mentality instead of an at-bat to an at-bat mentality, things can speed up on you a little bit. To be able to take a deep breath and know that if I make this pitch right here is all I really can control in the moment, and then be able to just kind of go from there.”
“I've always had a really, really great support system - people who have been nothing but helpful and love to give or give back.”
“I've never been a person that performed well when they chase stats.”
“I think, as a starting pitcher, that's your job. Your job is to go out there and give your team as many innings and keep you in the game as long as you can.”