After an injury-plagued 2023 season, pitcher Max Fried is healthy as he starts his eighth spring training with the Atlanta Braves.
Despite dealing with an oblique injury that kept him sidelined for a large chunk of the Braves’ season, Fried showed off his usual dominant stuff when healthy.
Braves third baseman Austin Riley is a big believer in Fried’s stuff, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com:
“I think he could win [a Cy Young Award] at some point,” third baseman Austin Riley said. “It’s definitely in there. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.”
Fried has certainly lived up to Riley’s praise since the Braves acquired him in the Dec. 2014 trade that sent Justin Upton to the Padres. He has two top-five Cy Young Award finishes within the past four seasons, and his 60 wins since the start of ‘19 rank second among all MLB pitchers, trailing only Gerrit Cole (71).
Fried is focused on getting the Braves back to the World Series after consecutive playoff flameouts against the Philadelphia Phillies. But after the 2024 season, the pitcher will become a free agent, with plenty of suitors.
“Same thing I’ve said in the past. We have him for sure in 2024,” Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. “We love the player. Beyond that, we’ll see where that goes. I would never say anything else. I know there’s been times when we’ve gotten something done and you didn’t know until the press release came out.”
Fried, 29, was limited to 14 games in 2023, but was spectacular while on the mound, recording a superb 2.55 ERA across 77.2 innings pitched.
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