On Wednesday afternoon, a pair of ex-teammates dueled on the mound for the first time as the New York Yankees took on the Detroit Tigers.
The catch? The Tigers’ Jack Flaherty and Yankees’ Max Fried never shared an MLB clubhouse or a college campus — they’re both former Harvard-Westlake Wolverines.
The pair shared the same high school dugout back in 2012, after Fried transferred to Harvard-Westlake for his senior season. Flaherty was a sophomore at the time, a year away from a remarkable junior campaign in 2013 that saw him finish with a 0.63 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 89 innings.
Former high school teammates, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty, will start against each other today for the first time in their MLB careers 🤯 pic.twitter.com/CPfd42uhjH
— MLB (@MLB) April 9, 2025
Fried was selected by the San Diego Padres with the seventh overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft at the conclusion of his senior year with the Wolverines — and he wasn’t the only Harvard-Westlake pitcher taken in the first round. The Wolverines missed out on having a 1-2-3 punch of future Major League hurlers when Lucas Giolito suffered a season-ending injury in the week of the campaign, but the righty was selected No. 16 overall by the Washington Nationals.
Flaherty was a compensatory selection by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2014 draft following the end of his own high school career.
Fried, Giolito and Flaherty’s pitching coach in that shared 2012 season? Ethan Katz, who has since made his way to MLB himself, now holding the same role for the Chicago White Sox.
Wednesday marked the first time Flaherty and Fried faced each other as starters for their respective Major League ballclubs. Fried threw seven innings of scoreless ball for the Yankees, striking out 11 and allowing just five hits, while Flaherty struck out nine across 5.1 scoreless frames. The Yankees won 4-3.
