ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves have Major League Baseball’s best record. Now they’re getting their best pitcher back.
Max Fried is set to rejoin the rotation Friday, when the Braves open a weekend series against the host Chicago Cubs, providing a huge boost to a team that already is a leading World Series contender.
“Just getting back out there and competing, being with those guys, it’s one of my favorite places to be,” the 29-year-old left-hander said after Atlanta beat the Los Angeles Angels 12-5 on Wednesday to take two of three in an interleague series at Truist Park.
Fried, both a first-time MLB All-Star and the runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award in 2022, has made only five starts in the majors this season and none since May 5, when a strained left forearm sent him to the injured list for nearly three months.
After four rehab appearances in the minor leagues, Fried feels like it’s opening day all over again.
He’s especially thrilled to be making his comeback at Wrigley Field, and against former teammate Dansby Swanson, no less. The 29-year-old shortstop, an Atlanta-area native, signed with the Cubs in December after helping the Braves win five straight NL East Division titles and the 2021 World Series — when Fried started and won the clinching Game 6 against the Houston Astros.
“It’ll be fun,” Fried said. “Obviously we have a lot of memories with him playing behind me.”
The Braves (69-37) are eager to have their ace back on the mound as they try to lock up another NL East crown. They have a commanding 11 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies, with the third-place Miami Marlins 13 games back.
“It’s awesome,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “I can’t wait to get him out there.”
Fried returns to a rotation that includes a pair of first-time All-Stars in right-handers Spencer Strider (12-3, 3.61 ERA) and Bryce Elder (8-2, 3.18). However, that staff has looked a bit thin most of the season because of injuries to Fried (2-1, 2.08) and right-hander Kyle Wright (0-1, 5.79), who led the majors with 21 wins last season but has made just five starts because of shoulder injuries.
Wright has started throwing off the mound but isn’t expected to be available until the final month of the regular season at the earliest.
Fried is ready to go now, which should give Atlanta four solid starters with veteran Charlie Morton (10-9, 3.62) part of the mix. At 39 years old, the two-time All-Star is by far the senior member of the staff, with Elder and Strider both 24 and Wright 27.
The Braves didn’t make a big splash at the MLB trade deadline Tuesday, but they’re treating Fried — who started on opening day against the Washington Nationals but exited early with a hamstring injury — like their biggest addition heading toward the stretch run of the regular season and the playoffs.
“Max is Max,” third baseman Austin Riley said. “Obviously he’s been a supercompetitive player. He loves to win, loves to compete. When you get a guy like him back, you’ve got to be excited.”
Fried wasn’t overly dominant in his rehab stint — he allowed 12 hits and five runs over nine innings in three appearances for Class AAA Gwinnett and threw three scoreless innings in one outing for Class A Rome — but he felt it was time well spent because he got to work with the automated ball-strike system at Gwinnett.
“It’s a smaller strike zone, so you have to get in the zone, attack guys a lot differently,” he said of the Hawk-Eye tracking system that uses a camera and computer to make the calls. “I feel like I’ve been able to get a really good test of how my pitches are working in the zone against guys. Now I’m just going to go out there and trust it at Wrigley.”
Fried expects to be a bit nervous as he returns to the big leagues, which is only natural after such a long layoff: “I’ll definitely have some butterflies and jitters before I go out there.”