Former Atlanta Braves starter Max Fried decided his future a few days ago. Fans hoped he might return to Atlanta in 2025 but signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the dreaded New York Yankees instead.

This is the third time a beloved Braves player has exited in free agency over the last few years. It’s never easy to see talented players leave the home team but Atlanta has their reasons for letting them walk.

However, it doesn’t take away from the memories made during their time with the Braves. Fried is no exception to that. He is one of the best pitchers in baseball and he gave fans some incredible memories. Let’s take a look at a few of his most memorable moments.

Fried delivers the grittiest performance of his career, leading Braves to World Series win

The 2021 World Series was one of the best performances we’ve seen from the Braves in recent years. That season was one of the most challenging as the team hovered around .500 until after the All-Star break.

Game 6 rolled around and the Braves had a chance to bring home the city’s second World Series title. The Braves had already suffered the loss of Charlie Morton who broke his leg during game one. It looked like they might lose another as Michael Brantley grotesquely stepped on Fried’s ankle on a bang-bang play at first base.

Luckily Max was okay but it appeared to anger Fried and he completed the inning with no trouble. Fried let out an emphatic, “Let’s go!” as he exited the field. This was the most emotion fans had seen from the lefty. He tossed six scoreless innings allowing just four hits with no walks and six strikeouts. The bullpen took care of the rest and Atlanta won their second World Series since the team moved to Atlanta.

Max Fried shows off his skills with the bat to walk off the Marlins

Former Braves pitcher and current on-air analyst Tom Glavine always likes to say pitchers are athletes. Fried proved him right on July 4th, 2021 with an impressive walk-off hit against the Marlins. Fried was batting .263 (5-for-19) up to that point in 2021 with a .649 OPS through 29 plate appearances.

Atlanta depleted their bench during a rally during the ninth inning to tie the game. Brian Snitker turned to Fried who was pretty good at the plate. He laced a walk-off single on a 3-1 count to help the Braves beat the Marlins 8-7 at Truist Park.

Fried pays homage to an Atlanta legend

It’s rare that pitchers throw complete games in today’s environment but there it’s almost unheard of for a pitcher to throw a complete game shutout with under 100 pitches thrown. This is named after Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux who was an expert at completing games with very few pitches.

However, on April 23, 2024, Fried decided it was his turn. He needed just 92 pitches to throw the third Maddux of his career and his fifth career complete game. Max once again embarrassed the Marlins but this time on the mound.

His two other instances of tossing a “Maddux” came against the Padres and Orioles in 2021. However, this was one of the most impressive outings of his Braves career.

Fried’s equally terrifying and exhilarating race to the plate

It seems like we are developing a pattern here. Fried practically owned the Marlins as most of his memorable moments came against the Fish.

In yet another extra-inning affair against the Marlins in 2019, Atlanta needed a pinch runner and Brian Snitker surprised everyone by calling on Fried to run the bases.

Ender Inciarte promptly laced a double down the left field line but the throw to the plate was too close for comfort. Fried was racing around the bases and dove in, desperate to score the go-ahead run. Luckily, the throw bounced away from the catcher but Fried’s slide horrified fans.

He dove head-first into home and reached for the plate with his pitching arm. It was not fun to watch but luckily, he was okay and the Braves went on to win the game.

Fried flirts with a no hitter

Atlanta Braves fans have been wondering when they’ll see the next Atlanta no-hitter. Fried gave the team their best chance at accomplishing the feat in 2024. Fried went out and threw seven innings with three walks and five strikeouts.

Joe Jimenez followed Fried and helped the Braves carry a no-hitter into the ninth inning. Raisel Iglesias came in and hoped to close out history for Atlanta against the Mets. Unfortunately, with two outs in the ninth inning, J.D. Martinez hit a home run to spoil things.

This continued a trend of Braves pitchers being one out away from history. The most recent example of this was Sean Newcomb in 2018 against the Dodgers at Truist Park where a single down the third base line crushed fans’ dreams.

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