Braves rotation takes a hit as ace heads to injured list

Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including David O’Brien of The Athletic) that ace Max Fried will go on the injured list as he manages a hamstring problem. Fried exited his Opening Day start after just 43 pitches. It seems the team is in no hurry to make the move official though, and may wait until Fried’s next turn in the rotation (Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals) to finalize the move. Any IL stint would of course be backdated to his last appearance.

While the news that Fried is IL-bound is never positive, there’s still nothing to suggest his injury is any more or less concerning than when Snitker initially indicated he’d probably head to the IL after his start. Snitker indicated at the time that Fried may only miss one start, so unless anything changes there seems to be a good chance that Fried only misses the mandatory 15 days.

A short trip to the IL is undoubtedly positive news for Atlanta, but it’s always a tough blow to lose the ace of the staff early in the season. Fried has been exceptional in the past few years, working to a 2.69 ERA across 407 innings between 2020-22. The best of those years came last season when he finished second in NL Cy Young voting to Miami’s Sandy Alcantara on the back of 185.1 innings of 2.48 ERA ball, which included an elite 4.4% walk rate.

It’s unclear yet who the Braves will turn to in Fried’s place on Wednesday, and their rotation picture has been muddied a little by the spring injuries to Kyle Wright and Mike Soroka. Wright is on the IL while Soroka is at Triple-A building back up after only getting one start late in spring training. Wright can’t return until April 11, and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that Ian Anderson and Bryce Elder are options to take Fried’s spot.