Max Fried 2020 Season Recap
MAX FRIED:
Played his second full major league season and went 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA (14 ER/56.0 IP) in 11 games, all starts.
N.L. Ranks: Wins (T2nd, 7) • Finished the season with 56.0 innings, 4.0 innings short of qualifying for the ERA title...His 2.25 ERA would have ranked fourth lowest in the N.L. with enough innings.
His 24 wins over the past two seasons are most in the majors by a lefthander, one more than Seattle’s Marco Gonzalez. • Only one pitcher, the Yankees Gerrit Cole, has more wins than Fried since the start of last year...Cole has 27 wins.
Fried did not allow a home run in any of his first 10 starts of the season and retired the first two batters he faced in his final appearance before allowing back-to-back home runs to Miami’s Jesús Aguilar and Brian Anderson...The homers snapped a 68.1-inning homerless run.
His 68.1-inning homerless streak entering play was the longest in the majors at the time, 19.1 innings longer than any other pitcher… Fried was vying to become just the third qualifying pitcher in the live ball era to complete a season without allowing a home run, and the first since Slim Harriss in 1926.
He opened the season with 10 straight homerless starts, the longest stretch for an Atlanta pitcher since Zane Smith in 1986, who opened the year with 13 straight homerless starts. • Won each of his seven decisions on the season...He was the first Braves pitcher to win each of his first seven decisions since Oscar Villarreal started 7-0 in relief in 2006, and the first starter to do so since Denny Neagle was 7-0 in 1997.
No Braves pitcher has started 8-0 since the club moved to Atlanta in 1966, and just three have done so since 1900...Ed Brandt (1931), Warren Spahn (1947) and Jim Wilson (1954) each started their seasons with eight straight wins. • Was placed on the injured list on September 8, backdated to September 6, and missed 11 games with a left-side muscle spasm in his lumbar spine.
Picked off four runners on the season, tied with SF’s Tyler Anderson for most in the majors...Fried needed just 12 pickoff attempts to do so. • Since his major league debut on August 8, 2017, Fried’s 14 pickoffs are tied for most in the majors, and he has been successful on 19% (14-for-74) of his attempts…In that same span, all of baseball has picked off 720 runners on 43,006 attempts (0.017%).
Atlanta won each of Fried’s first eight starts this season before losing September 5 vs. Washington. • He was the only pitcher in the majors to make at least eight starts this season and have his team win each of them. • Fried’s run of team wins was the longest to open a season for a Braves starter since Atlanta won all 12 of Kris Medlen’s starts in 2012, and was tied for the fifth-longest such streak since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966. • Beat Boston, 6-3, on August 31.
Fried has never lost an Interleague game in his career, going 7-0 with a 2.18 ERA (10 ER/41.1 IP) in seven starts against the American League…He beat Tampa Bay, Toronto, New York and Boston this season. • He is one of just two pitchers since the advent of Interleague Play in 1997 to open their career with at least seven straight victories against the opposing league, joining just Justin Verlander (7 straight). • Allowed three hits and one run over 6.2 innings, July 30 vs. TB to earn his first win of the season.
Fried carried a perfect game through 4.2 innings before Mike Brosseau singled up the middle…The perfect game bid was the longest by a Braves starter since Fried himself pitched 5.2 perfect frames on April 4 of last season against the Cubs. • Made his season debut in Atlanta’s second game, July 25 at NYM, and tossed 5.0 innings of two-run baseball, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out five
The outing marked the second straight season in which he carried a no-hitter through at least 4.0 innings in his first start...Took a perfect game through 5.2 innings in his first start of 2019, April 4 vs. CHI.
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