The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wrigley doesn’t intimidate Fried
Rookie left-hander is ready for his first major league start.
CHICAGO — Wrigley Field will be packed as usual for today’s game with fans eager to see their defending World Series champions dispose of the Braves and another rookie starting pitcher — this one making his first major league start — so they can hold their beers high and sing their “Go, Cubs, Go” theme song after another win.
But that rookie pitcher, Max Fried, doesn’t figure to be intimidated by the surroundings, whether the wind is blowing in or out at Wrigley. He’s baby-faced and slender, but Fried is anything but timid when the left-hander gets on the mound and starts slinging his big curveball and mid-90s fastball at hitters.
“It’s going to be a really fun time,” he said Saturday, a day after he was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett and being told it was official: He would make his first major league start today in a series finale against the Cubs, after making four relief appearances in August during his first major league stint.
He was in uniform at Wrigley for the second and third games of the four-game series Friday and Saturday, not the first time he’d been to the Friendly Confines, but the first time he’d taken it in from the perspective of an opposing player.
“I’d been up here in high school, I’ve been to Wrigley — never in the dugout during a game, obviously,”
said Fried, who came to the famous ballpark for a predraft workout in 2012, when the native Californian was the top lefty pitching prospect in the nation. “It’s going to be a really great day. I’m really excited to get out there.”
The Cubs selected sixth in that 2012 draft and took outfielder Albert Almora Jr., one spot before Fried was selected by the Padres.
Either Fried was repeating the “fun” thing to convince himself it was so, or he really does believe that making his first MLB start in one of the more energized atmospheres in baseball against one of its hottest teams will be a pleasurable experience. Those who’ve spent much time around him would tell you it’s not an act, he really does enjoy and thrive on such challenges.
“Yeah, he’s a California kid at heart. You know, pretty laid back,” said Dan Meyer, who developed a bond with the pitcher when Fried was recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery during the 2015 season when Meyer was the Braves’ pitching-rehab coordinator. Meyer became pitching coach at low Single-A Rome in 2016 and Fried emerged as a budding star in a stable of elite pitching prospects on that Rome team.
“He’s just got that style, that California style. But you get him on the mound and you see a different kid. You know that switch is going to flip,” Meyer said.