Max Fried Facing Notable Absence Due To Forearm Strain

9:04am: MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that while an MRI did not raise concern about Tommy John surgery for Fried, the Braves still don’t expect this to be a short-term absence. Fried will be shut down from throwing while his forearm heals, and while there’s no concrete timeline, it’ll likely be long enough that he’ll need to build back up from scratch.

8:31am: The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve placed left-hander Max Fried on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left forearm. His placement on the IL is retroactive to May 6. Fellow left-hander Danny Young has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett in his place.

It’s the second IL trip of the young season for Fried, who exited his Opening Day start due to a hamstring strain that required an absence of a couple weeks. The Braves hadn’t given a concrete indication that Fried was dealing with an injury prior to this morning’s announcement, though manager Brian Snitker somewhat cryptically said over the weekend that the team was “going through some things” when determining the timing of Fried’s next start.

Fried, 29, entered his most recent start having yielded just one run through his first 20 innings of the 2023 season before being trounced by the Orioles for seven runs (five earned) in six innings. After averaging 94.8 mph on his fastball through the season’s first three starts, that velocity dipped to an average of 93.5 mph over his two most recent turns.

The Braves haven’t provided a timetable for Fried’s return or given any indication as to the severity of the strain at this time. Even if it’s only a minimal absence for Fried, it’s still a blow to an Atlanta club that was already operating with only four healthy starters. Right-hander Kyle Wright is out indefinitely due to a shoulder strain, and the Braves lost righty Ian Anderson to Tommy John surgery earlier in the 2023 season.

That slate of injuries had already left the Braves with Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder as their rotation options. Fried going down will likely require the team to call up two of Dylan Dodd, Jared Shuster and Michael Soroka from Gwinnett to step onto the starting staff.

Both Dodd and Shuster have been hit hard in limited MLB action this season, however, and both have displayed uncharacteristically shaky command in their handful of Triple-A starts as well. Soroka, meanwhile, pitched just 13 2/3 innings from 2020-22 (big leagues and minors combined) due to a series of injuries — namely a pair of Achilles tears. He’s gone more than four innings in just one of his five starts with Gwinnett and has been hit hard in each of his past two appearances, yielding a combined ten earned runs in seven innings of work.

There are other options to consider, though they’d require an additional 40-man roster move. Twenty-seven-year-old righty Allan Winans, for instance, has pitched to a solid 2.90 ERA in six appearances (four starts) with impressive strikeout and walk rates. He tossed six quality innings on May 3 and, speculatively speaking, could be an option in the next couple weeks if the Braves want to make space for him on the 40-man roster. Lefty Domingo Robles and righty Tanner Gordon were both recently bumped up to Triple-A after strong starts to the season in Double-A, but both have been hit hard in their first appearances with Gwinnett and neither is on the 40-man.

Certainly, in the event of a prolonged absence for Fried, it’s easier to envision the Braves going outside the organization to address the sudden vacancies in the rotation. That’s a scenario most Braves fans would prefer not to think about. The team figures to have more updates on Fried’s status in the near future.

In the meantime, Young’s recall from Gwinnett will give Atlanta an extra arm in the bullpen. He’s appeared in four games for the big league club already this season, holding opponents to a run on three hits and no walks with six punchouts in 3 2/3 frames. Things have been a bit rockier in Gwinnett, where he’s surrendered four runs on nine hits (two homers) and two walks with six punchouts in 4 2/3 innings. Young, 28, is a pure reliever whose lone professional start was with the Blue Jays’ Low-A affiliate back in 2015, so he won’t be a rotation option while Fried is on the mend.