With Cy Young potential, Fried, Strider start '23 strong

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- What’s better than seeing both Max Fried and Spencer Strider make their spring debuts?

Watching the Braves’ potential National League Cy Young Award candidates do so in the same Grapefruit League game.

Fried and Strider enhanced excitement levels as they each pitched two scoreless innings in a 7-0 win over the Blue Jays on Monday afternoon at CoolToday Park. The two frontline starters covered the first four innings, then gave the stage to closer Raisel Iglesias, who struck out two of the three batters he faced in his first appearance of the year.

“It was nice to see all of those guys,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “They threw the ball extremely well.”

The Braves will like piggyback Fried with Strider again on Saturday and then begin to pitch them on separate days beyond the team’s off-day on March 6. Fried is slated to make his third straight Opening Day start, while Strider will be lined up to start the Braves’ second regular-season game.

Fried struck out four of the eight batters he faced. The lefty pitched around two hits, including a double that fell when Eddie Rosario seemed to lose Nathan Lukes’ high fly ball as he neared the left-field corner.

Strider’s fastball consistently sat around 98 mph as he also cruised through his debut. He constructed a perfect third inning and then pitched around a leadoff walk by inducing a double play in the fourth.

Early indications are the pitch timer will not be an issue for Fried or Strider.

“I’m a guy who likes to work quick,” Fried said. “There were a lot of times when I was coming set and there was a lot of time left. I could hold it. I think there will definitely be an adjustment in the season with different weather and different environments. But all in all, I liked it.”

Though he never felt rushed, Fried allowed himself to get a feel for how he or a batter might react if he were to begin his delivery as the timer was nearing expiration. His first-inning strikeout against Santiago Espinal came via a pitch he purposely began to deliver with one second on the clock.

“I tried to use different pitches in different circumstances in the game to just kind of feel it out,” Fried said. “Like, what does it feel like when you get down to one [second]? How much time until you have to start your motion? How many times can you really shake? On top of that, just working with [catcher] Sean [Murphy] for the first time. It was more of me trying to get a feel of the game.”

While Fried finished second in last year’s NL Cy Young Award voting, Strider finished second behind teammate Michael Harris II in balloting for the Jackie Robinson NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Strider joined Atlanta’s rotation near the end of May and still ended up striking out 202 batters over 131 2/3 innings, becoming the only pitcher in MLB history to record at least 200 strikeouts with fewer than 135 innings. Now the baseball world is looking forward to what he could do while serving as a starter over an entire season.

“I still take the approach that I'm trying to earn a [roster] spot, because I don't ever want to be complacent or think I've made it or anything like that,” Strider said. “I still have to get ready. Fortunately, there's plenty of time this year.”