San Diego Padres shut down Top Prospect Max Fried

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

San Diego, CA- The San Diego Padres this afternoon have shut down Top Pitching Prospect Max Fried according to UT-San Diego’s Dennis Lin.

Padres GM Josh Byrnes told Lin this afternoon that Fried has been shutdown due to forearm soreness and that he will be shut down from throwing for at least two weeks.” According Lin, Fried reported soreness in the mass-flexor area of his left arm after throwing long-toss from 120 feet early this month. Fried also underwent an MRI last Tuesday and the results according to Lin’s report were “benign” and that the soreness was of the muscular, not ligament, variety.

"“Until the symptoms calm down a little bit, we’re not gonna let him throw,” Byrnes said. “If I were to guess, it’ll be at least a couple weeks. We’ll just keep monitoring it and see if we can resolve the symptoms.” “At this stage of his career, this time of year, we’re obviously gonna be careful and make sure he’s symptom-free before he gets going,” Byrnes said. “There was still enough soreness in there that we’re gonna be conservative and make sure we knock it out.”"

The Padres drafted Max Fried with the seventh pick in the 2012 draft out of high-school and is not only the Padres number one pitching prospect, but is also viewed as one of the top left handed pitching prospects in baseball. Fried is ranked as the 53rd-best prospect in baseball and the second best left handed pitching prospect by Baseball America. 

"Fried has the pitch quality and the projection to become a frontline starter in San Diego. His next step is to challenge hitters more frequently in the strike zone."

In his first full season in professional baseball with low Single-A Fort Wayne last season, Fried went 6-7 with a 3.49 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 23 starts (118 2/3 innings).