In tonight’s edition of “Where is the 2020 Version,” we highlight Max Fried. Last year, it seemed Max had turned the corner. He had his lowest ERA, FIP, WHIP, and home run rate of his career in 56 IP. That was good enough to put him 5th in the Cy Young voting in the short season.
This year, he hasn’t been quite as dominant. His 4.62 ERA in a similar amount of innings pitched is much less inspiring than his performance last year, though his FIP is better (3.62). He didn’t pitch poorly this afternoon, but against a Miami lineup that is far from one of the bests in the league, he gave up the gopher ball twice, 4 hits total, and ended up with 3 earned runs in 6 innings.