Braves rookie Max Fried hasn’t been told what his role will be and doesn’t know if he’ll begin the season in the majors or Triple-A, but the left-hander was no less excited about whenever and wherever he’ll be pitching.
“Yeah, just kind of staying in my routine, just trying to make the most of every opportunity I get and just trying to get ready for the year,” Fried said Wednesday morning, five hours before making his fourth Grapefruit League appearance this spring.
The lanky left-hander worked two innings against the Phillies and was charged with four hits, one run and with no walks or strikeouts. Only one ball was hard-hit and he induced a double-play grounder after giving up a single to the first batter he faced to start the fifth inning.
“It was good to get him out there for a couple of innings,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He got a couple of balls up, ahead in the count. But overall good.”
Though he’s not been told, Fried is penciled in to begin the season in the Triple-A Gwinnett rotation. He’s pitched only 6 2/3 innings this spring – he has a 6.75 ERA -- including two or fewer innings in each outing, but Snitker said there was still plenty of time for Fried to get “stretched out” to start at Gwinnett. The Triple-A season begins April 6, eight days after the major league season.
“Yeah, there’s so many decisions that are way above my head,” Friend said, “so all I can worry about is, when I get my opportunity make the most of it. ... I feel really good, ready to just start getting after it.”
Fried, 24, was promoted directly from Double-A to make his major league debut in August and posted a 3.81 ERA in nine games, including four starts. He was 1-1 with a 3.44 ERA as a starter, including a memorable win in his first start Sept. 3 against the Cubs at sold-out Wrigley Field, where he allowed four hits, one run and three walks in five innings against the then-defending World Series champions.
His solid work during his call-up and in the Arizona Fall League led to some predictions that he might have a good shot at a spot in the Braves’ opening-day rotation, but Sean Newcomb has pitched well this spring to secure one of those spots and the other – with rookie Luiz Gohara sidelined by a sprained knee – seems likely to go to Scott Kazmir, who hasn’t pitched well this spring but is owed $16 million and can’t be sent to the minors without his consent.
Barring a late-spring trade or signing, the Braves are set to begin the season with Julio Teheran starting opening day, followed by Mike Foltynewicz, veteran newcomers Brandon McCarthy and Kazmir and second-year lefty Sean Newcomb.
The Braves are required to pay Kazmir’s salary regardless, and they seem ready to go with him at least until Gohara is ready to pitch, the hope being that Kazmir can get it together even with diminished velocity – he missed all of last season with injuries -- and still pitch with enough guile to be effective.
Fried was scheduled to start Wednesday while Teheran pitched in a minor league game on a back field, to avoid having Teheran face the Phillies so close to Tehran’s opening-day start against them March 29. But Teheran decided he would rather face some major league hitters and made the start Wednesday, moving Fried to first-reliever status.
It was Fried’s first game action since a two-inning appearance March 8 against the Astros, which also came six days after his previous outing March 2 against the Yankees. He pitched two innings in each of those games, allowing four hits and one run against the Astros and two hits and one run against the Yankees, with a combined five strikeouts and one walk over those four innings.
When asked about the frequency – or infrequency -- of his spring appearances, Fried said, “I’ve been on kind of the normal five-day (schedule), maybe the day extra for a six-day rotation. But it’s just kind of getting me used to throwing (in a game), day off, bullpen, just getting in that kind of routine.”
That’s the schedule of a starter, which is what most had anticipated would be Fried’s role this season, despite initial speculation he might be used in long relief in the majors if he didn’t win a rotation spot. That stemmed from a comment made by general manager Alex Anthopoulos at the Winter Meetings in December, when he said the Braves might consider using a starting-pitcher prospect in a relief role at the outset of his career, as the Blue Jays did with some starters in the past before and while Anthopoulos was Toronto’s GM.
But the Braves apparently shelved that possibility, at least for now, with their upper-tier starting prospects. They want Fried to continue his development as a starter on a regular routine, especially since he still hasn’t pitched 150 innings in a year.
The former Padres first-round draft pick missed nearly two full seasons recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery, then worked 103 innings in 21 games (20 starts) in his first season back in 2016. Fried had the kid gloves taken off to a large extent last season when he worked 144 2/3 combined innings, including 86 2/3 innings in the minors, 26 innings in nine late-season games (four starts) with the Braves in his big-league debut, and 26 innings in the Arizona Fall League, where he was 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in six starts and led the prospect-laden league in strikeouts with 32 in 26 innings.
His minor-league season was interrupted by time on the disabled list for finger blisters, but Fried made up those innings in the fall league and was among the pitchers who most impressed scouts and AFL managers who saw his workout in Arizona.
Even if Fried eventually is sent to minor league camp, his second major league spring training has been a beneficial one for the pitcher who is a consensus Top 100 prospect in baseball and rated as high as No. 55 by Baseball Prospectus. Fried is healthy and has used the opportunity to work diligently between appearances and spend time talking not just with his coaches but veterans McCarthy and Kazmir.
“Yeah, a lot,” he said. “Especially with Brandon, I kind of talk to him about the analytics and how to attack guys. Also, just him kind of seeing what I’ve got in live (batting practice) and stuff like that, what he sees and his take and how to attack guys. So it’s all really good.
“He was telling me he debuted at 180 pounds and the same height (he is now), just really thin. So I feel like we have a lot of the same body-type things and the same challenges.”
And Kazmir, Friend said, “Has been a really good guy (to talk to). Both of them are really open, like if I have any questions they’re really welcoming. It’s been nice to be able to bounce stuff off those guys. They’ve obviously done it for such a long time.”
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