Tommy John may have slowed him down, but MLB Pipeline believes there is nothing that can be done to stop the rise of Max Fried. Jonathan Mayo discussed Fried with MLB Network as one of his 10 picks to surge in 2017, and called him a guy with a “power fastball and a really good true curve from the left side”. Those who read our recently-released Top Prospects for 2017 know just how much faith we here at Talking Chop have in Fried and with his injury-stunted 2 years behind him it seems he will again pop back onto the radars of most of the top prospect outlets.
As a 7th overall pick in 2012, there has been a tremendous amount of hype thrown towards Fried since high school, and when he’s been on the field he has done nothing but deliver. Some might have felt shy watching him shake off the rust in the first half, but after the all star break he became perhaps the biggest force the Rome Braves had with a 3.26 ERA and 52K/11BB in 38.2 IP. A simply dominant postseason performance puts him on the rise going into 2017 and put his innings total at 117.2 IP (1 short of his career high in 2013). Fried will have the chains that bind untied, and will likely be placed as the ace of the Mississippi Braves as a 23 year old. Skipping a level will be the biggest test for Fried, who will try to maintain his health, performance, and stuff through his first attempt at 2 consecutive full, healthy seasons.
In Parting, I leave you with a snippet from our preseason top prospect list written by the always-fantastic Matt Powers