It wasn’t enough that the Atlanta Braves have lost Huascar Ynoa and Tucker Davidson in recent weeks. Now it’s Max Fried.
The Atlanta Braves made an announcement this afternoon that no fan of the team wanted to hear:
The #Braves today recalled RHP Kyle Wright to Atlanta and placed LHP Max Fried on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 19, with a blister on his left index finger.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 22, 2021
The good news? It’s “only” a blister for Max Fried. There’s a chance that this could result in a minimal Injured List stay, which effectively becomes only 7 days after the “retroactive” posting.
The bad news? It comes during a tough scheduling stretch — we’re in the midst of a 15 game/13 day run with 6 road games against the Mets and resurgent Reds still to come. Never mind that Fried has been pitching well since April.
If the Braves ever already needed additional pitching it was right now. Instead, their leader will now be out until (at least) the next Mets series that begins back in Atlanta on June 29th.
Fried had a brilliant May, posting a 1.50 ERA during that month. June has been a bit uneven for him: a pair of 1 run outings interspersed with allowing 3 runs to the Marlins and 5 (4 earned) to Washington.
His June 18 performance against the Cardinals was outstanding, though: 2 hits over 7 full innings with 2 walks, 6 K’s and 1 run allowed: arguably his best start of the year.
Finger problems have plagued Fried on multiple occasions, most recently in 2019 with a cut on his pinkie finger and another blister.
Atlanta Braves call up Wright
But now the Atlanta Braves will have to cope with the reserves, and in this case it will be Kyle Wright getting the nod.
Wright has been okay at Gwinnett: a 3.76 ERA in 8 starts, but just 38.1 innings at AAA. He’s still fighting a high walk rate (3.88 per 9 innings) and overcoming that wall of major league hitters has been a continual battle.
Perhaps seeing a Mets team that has struggled to score will help Wright’s cause this time around.
Max Fried, Mike Soroka, Huascar Ynoa, Tucker Davidson, and Touki Toussaint would make a pretty good rotation.
— WatchingBraves (@WatchingBraves) June 22, 2021
They're all on the IL. An entire rotation's worth of starters on the IL.
This is a telling tweet: the Atlanta Braves have indeed lost a lot of pitching to injuries this year… but at least we are hopeful that Fried’s stint on the IL will have a limited duration.
Until then… go get ’em boys: the schedule is still before you.