The race for the National League Cy Young Award is a hot race between a couple of starters who have dominated at every turn.
The two main guys who are leading the race are Sandy Alcantara and Corbin Burnes, last year’s NL Cy Young Award winner.
But there’s another guy that people aren’t really talking about who has been among the best pitchers in all of baseball over the past few seasons.
Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried is certainly making his presence known and is quietly among the best pitchers in the NL.
After throwing six shutout innings over the St. Louis Cardinals, he improved his record to 9-2 and his ERA to 2.52.
According to Bally Sports on Twitter, Burnes and Alcantara are the only two starters in baseball with better ERA’s than Fried since the start of the 2020 season.
Since the start of the 2020 season, only Corbin Burnes and Sandy Alcantara have posted a better ERA than Max Fried among qualified MLB starters.
Atlanta's ace has 308 strikeouts to 77 walks over that span. pic.twitter.com/3vZXFcRp1b
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) July 7, 2022
Fried Quietly Making His Case
Fried isn’t exactly a power pitcher, but he’s a guy who can dominate and eat innings for you.
He’s having a Cy Young caliber season and is leading the Braves on their current hot streak.
He led Atlanta to a series win with his dominance last night.
The only Cardinals that gave him any trouble were Paul Goldschmidt and Albert Pujols.
With his dominance last night, Fried made a case to be named the All-Star Game starter for the National League.
Alcantara may be the favorite to do that, but with Fried’s dominance, there’s not exactly a clear-cut choice.
Fried is also a guy with a ton of big-game experience, having won the clinching game of the World Series last year over the Houston Astros.
He may not be talked about much, but he deserves some praise as he continues to match some of the best starters in all of baseball.
NEXT: Dansby Swanson Can Break A Historic Braves Drought This Year