ATLANTA -- Growing up as a highly touted, skinny left-hander in Los Angeles, Max Fried was inspired by Tyler Skaggs long before he had the pleasure to develop a strong friendship with the Angels pitcher, whose sudden passing Monday has been mourned throughout the baseball world. 

“I’m very confident in saying I wouldn’t be the player or person I am today without what Tyler taught me,” Fried said.  

Fried was relaxing early Monday evening when White Sox All-Star pitcher Lucas Giolito called to inform him that the 27-year-old Skaggs had been found dead in his Dallas-area hotel room. The news devastated both young pitchers, who had spent the past couple offseasons working out with Skaggs.  

“It still feels a little surreal,” Fried said. “I don’t know.”  

As the 25-year-old Fried was cementing himself within Atlanta’s rotation this year, he kept close tabs on Skaggs, who seemed to be progressing in the right direction, as he posted a 2.49 ERA over his final four starts. The two maintained regular contact throughout the season. 

“We would mainly text each other saying how proud we are of the hard work we’ve done and how happy we were to see each other throwing well,” Fried said. “We’d just try to keep each other going and say we were looking forward to seeing each other."

Next week’s All-Star break was going to give Fried and Skaggs a chance to reconnect in Los Angeles. They may have been joined by Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty, another offseason workout partner, who played with Fried and Giolito at Harvard-Westlake High School.  

Fried now plans to spend some time next week offering condolences to Skaggs’ wife, Carli, and his mother, Debbie Hetman.   

“He was a really good friend that since the start of my professional career, I could always go to,” Fried said. “So, it’s definitely been [tough] the last couple of days.”