Atlanta Braves’ Max Fried is a potential future ace
Fried’s first start in the Major Leagues brings excitement to Atlanta Braves organization and its fans.
The Atlanta Braves promoted Max Fried to the Majors in August, and fans saw his potential against the Cubs on Sunday. Fried kept the Cubs from completing a four game sweep while Atlanta was in Chicago. The lefty threw five innings and only gave up four hits in his Major League starting debut.
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Fried’s start came as part of getting Braves prospects their first chance to showcase their skills. Fried followed fellow pitchers Lucas Sims and A.J Minter, among others, who debuted in the past month.
Even though it was only his first start, Fried told reporters beforehand “it’s going to be a really fun time”, something easier said than done against the defending champion Cubs.
Rather than feel any pressure, Fried showed Braves fans why he is the team’s No. 10 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. He kept the high octane Cubs offense in check, with his only run allowed coming off an Ian Happ homer.
What Exactly Will Fried Bring to the Braves?
Fried gained 15 pounds since he was drafted. He was 185 pounds at that time but is now listed at 200 pounds, filling out his tall frame. Because of this gain, Fried has added some velocity to his fastball which sits around 93-94 MPH. According to FanGraphs, Fried consistently sat near 93 MPH and touched as high as 96 MPH on Sunday against the Cubs.
Even with velocity commanding the attention of scouts and coaches alike, Fried backs his speed up with advanced secondary pitches. With two breaking balls, one having 11-5 break and another more like a slider, Fried displays two different types of a similar pitch. This gives Fried an advantage because hitters expect one version of a curve but another breaks them off. While the pitches only average 75.3 MPH, Fried has enough command of the pitches to fool hitters into swinging.
Fried is also one of the Braves highly touted pitching prospects in the farm system. He is one of the first of many young pitchers who look to provide assistance to a rotation ranking in the middle for many statistics. Once the Braves bring up these other prospects, Fried can be a mentor of sorts to his fellow pitchers.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves a bit, perhaps.
How Do the Braves Plan to Manage Fried?
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At the moment, Fried looks like a viable option to become part of the Braves starting rotation. Questions about whether or not Julio Teheran will be a future with the organization remain to be seen.
The same goes with whether or not Lucas Sims and Sean Newcomb will get looks from the front office to begin the season in the rotation. At this point, many hypotheticals are up in the air, but if Fried performs like he has, it looks likely he will at the very least have a shot at the Opening Day roster in 2018.
On the other hand, Fried could be part of young guns bolstering a bullpen that looks to turn around its struggles. Pitchers like Arodys Vizcaino and Matt Wisler have potential late-inning roles, and Fried would be another strong addition.
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Regardless of what the Braves do with Fried’s role, there’s the potential to be a future ace for the team.