Max Fried
Max Dorian Fried is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. He debuted with the Atlanta Braves in 2017.
Fried was selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round, seventh overall of the 2012 MLB draft. He was traded to the Braves in 2014. He was second in the National League in wins with 17 in 2019 and 7 in 2020. Fried pitched 6 shutout innings in the final game of the 2021 World Series against the Houston Astros, helping lead the Braves to their first championship in 26 years., Fried had the fourth best career win–loss percentage of all Braves pitchers, at.670.
Fried is a three-time All-Star and is also a good fielder and hitter for a pitcher. In 2020, he won the NL Gold Glove Award at pitcher and the Fielding Bible Award at pitcher. In 2021, he won the Gold Glove Award again, as well as the Silver Slugger Award for pitchers, becoming the third pitcher in MLB history to win both awards in the same year. He was also named to the All-MLB Team those two years. In 2022, he won his third consecutive Gold Glove Award at pitcher.
Early life
Fried was born on January 18, 1994, in Santa Monica, California. He grew up in Encino, Los Angeles, the middle son of Carrie and Jonathan Fried, and is Jewish. His younger brother Jake, also a pitcher, attended the University of Arizona. Max began attending the Reggie Smith Baseball Academy in Encino as a seven year old and learned how to throw a curveball from the retired outfielder. Fried pitched for the 2009 Maccabiah Games Team USA Juniors baseball team that won a gold medal in Israel.Fried first attended Montclair College Preparatory School, in Van Nuys, where he played baseball, football, and basketball. As a sophomore, with Ethan Katz as his pitching coach, he was 10–3 with a 1.81 earned run average, and was named the Olympic League MVP and to the All-California Interscholastic Federation Division V first team. In his junior year, Fried was 7–3 with a 1.31 ERA, with 100 strikeouts in 69 innings, as he also played outfield and batted.360 with four home runs and 30 RBIs. He was named the 2011 Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Male High School Athlete of the Year.
After Montclair Prep cut its baseball team subsequent to his junior year, Fried transferred to Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles for his senior season. He wore uniform number 32 in honor of Sandy Koufax and played with fellow future MLB pitchers Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty. In 2012, Fried was 8–2 with a 2.02 ERA, and 105 strikeouts in 66 innings. He was a Rawlings-Perfect Game 1st Team All-American.
Draft and minor leagues
Draft (2012)
The San Diego Padres selected Fried in the first round with the seventh overall selection of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. Fried chose to sign with the Padres for $3 million, forgoing his commitment to the UCLA Bruins baseball team. Baseball America rated him the top left-handed pitcher in the draft.San Diego Padres (2012–2014)
Fried made his professional debut for the Arizona League Padres in 2012 and spent the whole season there, going 0–1 with a 3.57 ERA in innings pitched. He played for the Fort Wayne TinCaps in 2013 where he compiled a 6–7 record and 3.49 ERA in 23 starts. At the end of the year, Fried was ranked the 43rd-best prospect in the minors by MLBPipeline. He was also named an MiLB.com Padres Organization All Star, and Baseball America ranked his curveball as the best in the Padres' minor league system.In 2014, he was ranked the Padres' top pitching prospect, and their No. 2 prospect overall, by MLB.com. Fried was injured for much of the year and did not make his season debut until July. The next month, on August 20, Fried underwent Tommy John surgery; he missed the remainder of the 2014 season.
Atlanta Braves (2014–2017)
On December 19, 2014, the Padres traded Fried, Jace Peterson, Dustin Peterson, and Mallex Smith to the Atlanta Braves for Justin Upton and Aaron Northcraft. Fried missed the entire 2015 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.Fried returned to action on April 9, 2016, for the Rome Braves. He spent all of 2016 with Rome, pitching to an 8–7 record and a 3.93 ERA in 21 games, striking out 112 batters in 103 innings. Fried ended the season ranked by Baseball America as the 6th-best prospect in the South Atlantic League. His fastball, clocked at 93–94 mph, reached 96–97 mph in the second half of the season. The Braves added Fried to their 40-man roster after the season.
Fried was invited to spring training for the first time at the start of the 2017 season. He began the season with the Double-A Mississippi Braves. He was ranked as the Braves' No. 8 prospect overall by MLB.com in May and 89th best prospect in July. Fried was named Southern League Pitcher of the Week for the week ending April 30.
Major leagues
Atlanta Braves (2017–2024)
2017: Major league debut
Fried was called up to the Atlanta Braves on August 5, 2017. He debuted on August 8, throwing two scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, displaying what David O'Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "a devastating curveball". Two weeks later, Fried returned to the minor leagues, joining the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves. In 26 innings pitched for the Braves for the season, he was 1–1 with a 3.81 ERA.At the end of the 2017 season, Fried joined the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League, for whom he was named league Player of the Week on October 31. He led the league with 32 strikeouts in 26 innings, and was 3–1 with a 1.73 ERA in six starts. He ranked first among starters with a.163 opponents' batting average, was second in fewest-baserunners-allowed-per-nine-innings, and was named to the AFL's Top Prospects Team. Baseball America rated him # 3 on the AFL Hot Sheet. In December, Braves manager Brian Snitker said that he might look at Fried, Lucas Sims, or another pitcher as the team's fifth starter in 2018.
2018
Fried began the 2018 season with the Double-A Mississippi Braves. After one game, he re-joined Gwinnett, now named the Stripers. He was called up to Atlanta in late April. In innings pitched for the Braves in the 2018 regular season, he was 1–4 with 44 strikeouts and a 2.94 ERA. With runners in scoring position he kept batters to one hit in 30 at bats ; and with RISP and two outs, opposing batters were 0-for-14 with eight strikeouts.2019
Fried was placed in the bullpen at the start of the 2019 season, and later moved to the starting rotation. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 7, Fried was hit on his left hand by a ball hit by Alex Verdugo and left the game, but he made his next regularly scheduled start.In 2019, Fried was 17–6 with a 4.02 ERA, as in 33 games he pitched innings in which he struck out 173 batters. His 17 wins were second in the National League, and his.739 won-loss percentage was fifth in the league. He induced the second-lowest percentage of fly balls, and the third-highest percentage of ground balls, of all NL pitchers, and threw his curveball 24.6% of the time. His 9.398 strikeouts per nine innings were, at the time, the fifth-highest in a single season in franchise history.
On defense, he led all NL pitchers with 34 assists, and had the second-best range factor per 9 innings of 2.23. He had 6 Defensive Runs Saved, the best in the major leagues among pitchers. Fried also batted.196 /.262 /.268, and led all NL pitchers with at least 50 plate appearances in runs and BB/SO ratio, while having the second-lowest swinging strike percentage, third highest contact percentage, and tying for third in walks.
2020: Gold Glove and Fielding Bible Awards, All-MLB First Team
During the 2020 season, Fried developed into Atlanta's ace. In the pandemic-shortened season, Fried had a 7–0 win–loss record with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.09 walks plus hits per inning pitched. He led the major leagues in win–loss percentage and pickoffs, led National League pitchers in Wins Above Replacement , was second in the NL in WAR, and tied for second in the NL in wins. He limited hard contact, holding batters to an average exit velocity on batted balls of 83.4 mph and hard-hit balls to 23.8%, both among the lowest 2% of all major league pitchers.His four pickoffs through September 6 were the most in the majors in 2020, and he needed only 12 pickoff attempts to do so. Since his major league debut in 2017, Fried's 14 pickoffs were the most in the majors, and he was successful on 19% of his attempts. During that span, major league pitchers were successful in picking off runners in only 0.017% of attempts. Fried started the season by not allowing any home runs through eight starts with his team winning every game, the first left-handed pitcher to do so since Babe Ruth in 1917.
On defense, Fried led all major league pitchers in assists for the second consecutive season, tied for the MLB lead in pickoffs, and led all pitchers with five Defensive Runs Saved.
Fried won the 2020 NL Gold Glove Award at pitcher. He became the fourth Braves pitcher to win the award, joining Mike Hampton, Greg Maddux, and Phil Niekro, and the first Braves player to win the award for a pitcher in 17 years. He also won the 2020 Fielding Bible Award at pitcher. The award honors the top fielder in the Major Leagues at pitcher. He came in fifth in voting for the 2020 NL Cy Young Award. He was named a starter on the 2020 All-MLB First Team.
2021: Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Awards, All-MLB Second Team, World Series Champion
Fried was the Braves' 2021 Opening Day starting pitcher. His first career complete game shutout was a Maddux, pitched against the Baltimore Orioles on August 20, 2021. Fried threw a second Maddux on September 24, while facing the San Diego Padres. His 1.76 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in the second half of the season were the best in the major leagues. He was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for September, after posting a 1.54 ERA.In the 2021 regular season, Fried was 14–7 with a 3.04 ERA, and his 14 wins were 5th in the NL. In 28 starts he threw 2 shutouts, as in 165.2 innings he averaged 7.5 hits, 0.8 home runs, and 2.2 walks per 9 innings, for a 1.087 WHIP. His 8.584 strikeouts/9 innings were the 11th-most in Braves history. His 51.8% ground ball percentage was 3rd-highest in the NL, and he induced softly hit balls 20.0% of the time.
As a batter, he hit.273/.322/.327. His batting average and on-base percentage led all pitchers, while his slugging percentage ranked second. He scored 7 runs, hit three doubles, and drove in 5 RBIs in 55 at bats, had the second-highest exit velocity of all pitchers, had 8 sacrifice hits, and was called upon to pinch hit four times. On July 4, 2021, he had a pinch-hit, walk-off, single against the Miami Marlins.
On defense, Fried led NL pitchers in range factor per game, assists for the third consecutive season, and Defensive Runs Saved for the third season in a row. For the second consecutive season he tied for the major league lead in pickoffs.
In the three years in which Fried was a starter, from 2019 to 2021, he led all National League pitchers in wins, was tied for the lead in shutouts, was second in the vertical movement of his curveball, and had the third-lowest barrels percentage in balls hit against him. In those three years on offense he led NL pitchers in runs, doubles, on base percentage, and WAR, was 2nd-lowest in strikeout percentage, and third in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, and walks. In those three years on defense he led all NL pitchers in assists.
Fried won the final game of the 2021 World Series with six shutout innings against the Astros, who had led the majors in batting average and runs for the season, with Houston's three-time batting champion Jose Altuve observing: "He was almost unhittable."
Fried won the 2021 NL Gold Glove Award at pitcher, winning the award for the second consecutive year. He became the third Braves pitcher to win multiple Gold Glove Awards, joining Greg Maddux and Phil Niekro. Major League managers and coaches, account for 75% of the selection process, while the other 25% is a sabermetric component.
Fried also won the 2021 NL Silver Slugger Award for pitchers. The award was given to the top offensive player at pitcher in the NL, as determined by a vote by the manager and three coaches of each MLB team. Fried became the third MLB pitcher in history to win both the Silver Slugger Award and the Gold Glove Award in the same season, joining Mike Hampton and Zack Greinke. Fried was the final recipient of the Silver Slugger Award for pitchers, as the National League permanently implemented the designated hitter in 2022.
He was named a starter on the 2021 All-MLB Second Team, his second consecutive All-MLB selection. Through 2021, of the Braves career leaders, Fried was second in win–loss percentage.