By Scott Barancik, Editor

Three days after his improbable call-up from Double-A, Atlanta Braves prospect Max Fried made his MLB debut tonight, pitching two scoreless innings of relief in a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies (see game stream). In so doing, he became the 12th Jewish player in the Majors this season and only the second rookie to be promoted to the big leagues, after Brad Goldberg of the Chicago White Sox.

Fried walked the first man he faced but retired the next three batters on a total of 12 pitches, recording one strikeout and inducing two infield groundouts to close out the 8th inning.

The 9th inning was a little dicier. After retiring the first two batters, the 23-year-old southpaw gave up a double and intentionally walked the next batter. Philadelphia RF Nick Williams then hit an infield grounder that could have scored a run, but Atlanta 1B Freddie Freeman alertly tossed home to nail the runner at the plate.

All told, the 6’4″ Fried tossed 15 fastballs — the fastest at 94.9 MPH — nine curveballs, one changeup and one slider.

Max Fried awaits the return of his first Major League pitch, a 93.5 MPH fastball to Cameron Rupp

A 1st-round pick (#7 overall) by the San Diego Padres out of high school in 2012, the California native sat out most of 2014 and all of 2015 with injuries and Tommy John surgery. Although he was just 2-11 with a 5.92 ERA at Double-A this season, Fried held opponents scoreless in his last three starts and impressed management with his maturity on the field.

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