Max Fried completes 2nd rehab start; planned for 60 pitches in next start
Atlanta Braves lefthander Max Fried completed his 2nd rehab stint on Saturday, pitching three scoreless innings for the High-A Rome Braves in an eventual 8-5 loss.
Fried looked dominant, taking only thirty pitches to go through three complete innings with two hits, no walks, and three strikeouts. He threw 23 of his 30 pitches for strikes. The outing was so efficient that Fried went to the bullpen for more work after the outing was officially complete.
Friend of the program (and recent podcast guest) Kelly Crull, reporting on the Sunday broadcast for Bally Sports, said that the goal for Fried's next rehab start was set at 60 pitches. Entering the rehab phase of Fried's return, the belief was that he'd need four or five minor league starts to be ready to return to the major league rotation. A pitch count goal of 60 shows that goal should still be intact and may be on the lower end, depending on Fried's performance in the back half of that next outing.
Fried, last year's NL Cy Young runner-up, was 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA across five starts when he was placed on the IL with the forearm strain, his second IL stint of the season. He left his Opening Day start against the Washington Nationals with a hamstring strain that forced him to the IL, but only for the minimum stay and no rehab stints were needed.
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