House That Hank Built
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Three takeaways as Atlanta Braves blast Giants behind Max Fried and homers

By Daniel Rasmussen

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 22: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a three run home run during the seventh inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on May 22, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 22: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a three run home run during the seventh inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on May 22, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /
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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 22: Max  Fried #54 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on May 22, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 22: Max  Fried #54 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on May 22, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /

Max Fried’s curveball is a hitter’s nightmare

Here’s a joke I promise I didn’t come up with on my own, but it’s entirely appropriate for Wednesday night’s outcome.

Do you know why San Francisco’s Oracle Park is the breeziest park in MLB?

Because there are Giant fans everywhere.

The Giants were fanning against Max Fried on Wednesday – five times, to be exact – as the young left-hander rode a 6-inning, 2-run performance to his 7th win of the season (good for the best in the National League).

A large part of Max Fried’s success has come from his tremendous and varied arsenal of pitches, especially his curveball.

No matter the lens with which you use to view Fried’s curve – be it the metrics or the good ‘ole “eye test” – the pitch has been equally as impressive.

What do the numbers say?

Let’s start with Statcast, which categorizes Fried’s curveball with a “great” spinrate at the 92nd percentile.

Fangraphs’ pitch value data indicates that it’s one of the most effective curveballs in the league, listing Fried’s wCB (Curveball runs above average) at 4th best in the National League at 3.8.

As for the “eye test”?

The eyes say that Max’s curve is a devastating 12-to-6 drop – sitting at a 22-24 MPH differential off his fastball velocity – while buckling the knees of hitters and keeping them terribly off-balance.

On Wednesday against San Francisco, Fried regularly went to the curve as an out-pitch to get hitters to chase, and its effectiveness was highlighted by the fact the Giants were 10:2 in their ground ball:fly ball ratio.

Sure, the curve is only as good as his other primary pitch (fastball) is on a given night, but Wednesday showed – again – that when Fried wasn’t striking batters out, he was initiating weak contact.

Fried is a young pitcher who is still learning about the ins and outs of being a big-league starter, but his natural talent and pitching mechanics make him extremely dangerous to opposing hitters – that brutal curveball being a big reason why.

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