Tomahawk Take Awards: Max Fried is our Atlanta Braves Cy Young

It is baseball awards season, so the staff here at Tomahawk Take decided to put together a list of awards from the Atlanta Braves 2022 season and then vote on them as a group. We voted on:

• Braves MVP
• Braves CY Young
• X-Factor
• Surprise of the Year
• Biggest Disappointment
• Best Moment
• Best Win

Next up, our Braves Cy Young winner. Who brought the most value as a pitcher, in our eyes/mind, to the Atlanta Braves in 2022? We were allowed (encouraged) to think outside the box with some of our votes in this series. If we wanted to go purely on statistical performance, we could. If we wanted to vote based on intangibles, we could.

Hope you enjoy and feel free to give us your votes/opinions in the comments.

The Votes

• Eric Cole – Spencer Strider
• Fred Owens – Spencer Strider
• Ben Mause – Max Fried
• Steven Teal – Max Fried
• Matt Melton – Max Fried
• Mitchel Barbee – Spencer Strider
• Davis Tangeman – Max Fried
• Christian Dart–  Spencer Strider
• James Judah – Max Fried
• Trent Dickeson – Max Fried

Official Totals:

• Max Fried – 6
• Spencer Strider – 4

Max Fried Takes Home The Tomahawk Take Braves Cy Young

Another extremely tight race that was only one flipped vote from a tie. However, Max Fried narrowly edges out the rookie sensation.

Fried was a deserving candidate. He finished second in the National League CY young voting behind Sandy Alcantara but he takes home the (more?) prestigious Tomahawk Take CY Young award. Fried appeared in 185.1 innings with a 2.48 ERA, 2.85 xERA, 2.70 FIP, 3.09 xFIP, and 3.31 SIERA. Fried is not a huge strikeout guy, with only a 23.2% strikeout rate. What he does is limit walks, with a miniscule 4.4% walk rate and limit hard contact. Fried’s 86.2 average exit velocity allowed ranked him in the 92nd percentile.

Fried accumulated 5.9 bWAR and 5.0 fWAR throughout the 2022 season, making him one of the more valuable pitchers in baseball. The 5.0 fWAR ranked 7th among pitchers in baseball and was good for 4th in the National League. Fried is phenomenal. His growth over the last few seasons have been exactly what the Braves needed. Fans know that when Fried steps on the mound, he is going to give the team a shot to win more often than not.

That’s our ace.

Spencer Strider Second Again

Another second place finish for Spencer Strider. He finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting to fellow Brave Michael Harris. Now, he finishes second in our Tomahawk Take voting for the Braves Cy Young.

Tough break for Strider because he put together a fabulous season worthy of the award. Pitching 131.2 innings, Strider finished with a 2.67 ERA, 2.39 xERA, 1.83 FIP, 2.30 xFIP, & 2.47 SIERA. Strider struck out 38.3% of batters faced, which is why he was able to strike out 202 batters in only 131.2 innings. Strider put together a season worth 3.7 bWAR and 4.9 fWAR and was a deserving candidate.

He started the season in the bullpen before transitioning to the starting rotation. He was great in both roles, but his move to the starting rotation came right in line with the Braves 14 game winning streak. He stuck in the starting rotation at that point and earned himself a nice payday by season’s end. His 4.9 fWAR tied him with Shane Bieber for 8th most by a pitcher in baseball. Good for 5th in the National League, right behind Fried.

Up Next: Braves X-Factor

Having both Max Fried and Kyle Wright is a luxury. While Fried takes home the vote from us at Tomahawk Take, both put together great seasons. Any team would love to have a Fried and Strider in the rotation. Oh, and we also have Kyle Wright as the number 3. Then Charlie Morton at the 4. A deep rotation in Atlanta that could get even deeper if Bryce Elder, Kyle Muller, Freddy Tarnok, or Darius Vines take a step forward. Ian Anderson also lurks. There is also a guy named Mike Soroka.

The 2023 Braves CY Young race could be a tight race. I look forward to it. However, next up is our Braves X-Factor for the 2022 season.