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Max Fried, as a pitcher, is really great hitter but now that we have the designated hitter in the NL, won’t hit again.
It’s a good thing the Braves didn’t have Max Fried make an early trip to Pittsburgh to get some extra rest before his Monday night start against the Pirates. His multidimensional talents, or specifically his bat, were needed in Atlanta to complete what stands as the Braves’ wildest win of the season.
Having depleted their bench during a four-run ninth-inning rally, the Braves turned to Fried and saw him provide one of the wildest victories of the season. The left-handed pitcher’s two-out pinch-hit single concluded a wacky 8-7 win in 10 innings over the Marlins at Truist Park on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s kind of like we emptied the tank in the ninth inning trying to tie this thing, and it’s nice to have a bullet like that on the bench still, you know, a guy like Max,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
You know, a guy like Fried, who finished fifth in last year’s National League Cy Young Award balloting and entered Sunday hitting .189 with a .500 OPS in 90 at-bats in his four-year career. Maybe those numbers were deceiving, considering he was hitting .263 (5-for-19) with a .649 OPS through 29 plate appearances that year.
Those numbers were at least better than those of backup catcher Kevan Smith, who has hit .191 with a .509 OPS. But that didn’t stop Marlins manager Don Mattingly from intentionally walking Smith to get to Fried with two outs and the bases loaded in the 10th.
“I was really surprised he swung the bat there, but he’s actually a pretty good hitter,” Mattingly said.
Fried is now 2-for-5 as a pinch-hitter. His first pinch-hit came when he batted for Jerry Blevins during a 14-4 loss to the Nationals on May 29, 2019. This second hit, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, makes him the first Braves pitcher to record a pinch-hit walk-off RBI since RBIs became a statistic in 1920.
“I love hitting,” Fried said. “I’ve played outfield growing up and first base. It’s something that you always dream about happening. But once I figured that I was going to be a pitcher, I never thought that there was going to be a reality. So to have something like this happen and get put in a spot like that, I just tried to make the most of it.”
Source: Max Fried’s walk-off single helps Braves beat Marlins
The History of the Atlanta Braves 