Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Max Dorian Fried was born on January 18, 1994, in Santa Monica, California. He is a starting pitcher in the MLB.

He is the middle son of Carrie and Jonathan Fried, and is Jewish. He attended synagogue on High Holidays and had a bar mitzvah. His younger brother Jake, also a pitcher, attends the University of Arizona Attended Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City, California for his senior year. Fried attended Montclair College Preparatory School in Van Nuys, California for three years before the school cut all athletics. He committed to UCLA before signing with the San Diego Padres.

In 2018, he split his season between Atlanta, Triple-A Gwinnett and Double-A Mississippi, going 1-4 with a 2.94 ERA (11 ER/33.2 IP) and 44 strikeouts in 14 games, five starts, at the big-league level. He appeared in all four games of the NLDS vs. LAD, tossing 2.1 combined innings and allowing one hit and one run, earned.

In 2017, he made his major league debut while also spending time with Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett. The Braves recalled him from Mississippi on 8/5 and he made his MLB debut on 8/8 vs. PHI. He tossed 2.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and had made two career relief appearances in the minors prior to his outing. He appeared in three more games, all in relief, for the Braves and allowed four runs in 4.2 innings (7.71 ERA) with no decisions before the club optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett on 8/23. He returned to the Braves for the remainder of the season on 9/1. 

Fried was the Braves’ 2021 Opening Day starting pitcher. His first career complete-game shutout was a Maddux, pitched against the Baltimore Orioles on August 20, 2021. Fried threw a second Maddux on September 24, while facing the San Diego Padres. His 1.76 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in the second half of the season were the best in the major leagues. He was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for September, after posting a 1.54 ERA.

In the 2021 regular season, Fried was 14-7 with a 3.04 ERA (9th in the National League), and his 14 wins were 5th in the NL. In 28 starts he threw 2 shutouts (leading the league), as in 165.2 innings he averaged 7.5 hits, 0.8 home runs (3rd), and 2.2 walks per 9 innings, for a 1.087 WHIP. His 8.584 strikeouts/9 innings were the 11th-most in Braves history. His 51.8% ground ball percentage was 3rd-highest in the NL, and he induced softly hit balls 20.0% of the time (5th).

As a batter, he hit .273/.322/.327. His batting average and on-base percentage led all pitchers, while his slugging percentage ranked second. He scored 7 runs (2nd), hit three doubles (2nd), and drove in 5 RBIs (6th) in 55 at bats, had the second-highest exit velocity of all pitchers (90.3 mph), had 8 sacrifice hits (8th of all players), and was called upon to pinch hit four times.

On defense, Fried led the league in range factor/game as a pitcher (1.61), in assists as a pitcher for the third consecutive season (37), and in Defensive Runs Saved for the third season in a row (6). For the second consecutive season he tied for the major league lead in pickoffs (6).

In the three years in which Fried was a starter, from 2019-21, he led all National League pitchers in wins (38), was tied for the lead in shutouts (2), was 2nd in the vertical movement of his curveball (-11.6 inches; batters hit .183/.218/.294 against it), and had the third-lowest barrels percentage in balls hit against him (5.0%). In those three years on offense he led NL pitchers in runs (18), doubles (7), on-base percentage (.292), and WAR (1.3), was 2nd-lowest in strikeout percentage (25.8%), and third in batting average (.234), slugging percentage (.297), OPS (.589), and walks (9). In those three years on defense he led all NL pitchers in assists (86).

He won Game 2 of the 2021 National League Division Series against Milwaukee 3-0, with 6 scoreless innings, in which he gave up 3 hits with no walks, and had 9 strikeouts. He won the final game of the 2021 World Series with six shutout innings against the Astros, who had led the majors in batting average and runs for the season, with Houston's three-time batting champion José Altuve observing: "He was almost unhittable."

Fried won the 2021 NL Gold Glove Award at pitcher, winning the award for the second year in a row. He became the third Braves pitcher to win multiple Gold Glove Awards, joining Greg Maddux and Phil Niekro. Major League managers and coaches (voting only within their league, and unable to vote for players on their own team), account for 75% of the selection process, while the other 25 percent is a sabermetric component).

Fried also won the 2021 NL Silver Slugger Award for pitchers. The award was given to the top offensive player at pitcher in the NL, as determined by a vote by the manager and three coaches of each MLB team (and no manager/coach can vote for a player on his own team). Fried became the third MLB pitcher in history to win both the Silver Slugger Award and the Gold Glove Award in the same season, joining Mike Hampton (2003) and Zack Greinke (2019).

He was named a starter on the 2021 All-MLB Second Team, earning his second consecutive All-MLB selection.

Through 2021, of the Braves career leaders, Fried was second in win-loss percentage (.690; behind Russ Ortiz and ahead of Greg Maddux).

Fried was named to his second straight Opening Day start in 2022. Fried's salary for the 2022 season was set at $6.85 million via arbitration. He was named to the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game roster at midseason.

For the season, Fried was 14-7 with a 2.48 ERA (3rd in the NL), in 30 starts in which he pitched 185.1 innings with 170 strikeouts. He gave up the lowest percentage of hard-hit balls in the NL (24.5%) and had the lowest barrel-percentage against (4.0%), was 2nd in fewest walks/9 innings (1.55), 3rd in strikeouts/walk (5.31) and fewest home runs/9 innings (0.58), 4th in ground ball percentage (51.2%), and tied for 5th in highest LOB (78.2%). His curveball had the highest vertical movement of those of all NL pitchers, the exit velocity of balls hit against him (86.2 mph) was the third-lowest in the NL, and batters swung at his pitches outside the strike zone 36.8% of the time, the fourth-highest rate in the NL.

In the four seasons from 2019 to 2022, he had the lowest barrel-percentage against (4.6%) of all major league pitchers, and his 52 wins were second in the major leagues only to the 56 wins of pitcher Gerrit Cole. On defense, opponents have become hesitant to run on him. Since his major league debut in 2017, his 23 pickoffs lead major league baseball, with him having picked the runner off in 14.29% of his career pickoff attempts, a much higher percentage than the major league average of 1.6%.

Fried was named the 2022 NL Gold Glove Award winner at pitcher, his third straight Gold Glove Award. He became the first Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux to win three straight Gold Glove Awards. The only other pitchers who have won the award three times in a row have been Harvey Haddix, Bobby Shantz, Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro, and Zack Greinke.

Fried signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Braves for the 2024 season.