CLEVELAND — He’s the only human being with a higher OPS than Aaron Judge. No one reaches base with more frequency. And unless you have tracked the wild ride of the 2024 Cleveland Guardians or you watched him star at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La., or you work in the Milwaukee Brewers’ front office, you’re probably not familiar with David Fry.
Advertisement
He’s two years removed from being a Player To Be Named Later. He’s two months removed from the epiphany that altered the course of his season, and perhaps his career.
He’s evolved from a utility player clawing for an Opening Day roster spot to a linchpin in a lineup that has launched the 40-20 Guardians into the conversation for baseball’s best story.
How well are things going for Fry? He approached the plate with the bases loaded and the score tied in the seventh inning Tuesday. He pounded a pitch into the infield grass. Three runs scored.
“When you’re hot, you’re hot,” Guardians hitting coach Chris Valaika said.
Always run out a grounder!
The hustle of Josh Naylor into second base and David Fry down the first-base line allows the @CleGuardians to score three runs on a Royals error in the bottom of the seventh inning.pic.twitter.com/WckR5Nlat5
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) June 5, 2024
Ahead of each series, Cleveland’s three catchers — Fry, Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges — complete deep dives on every opposing hitter. They scribble scouting reports into their notebooks, with pitch types and sequences to prioritize and hot zones to avoid.
During an early-season trip, it dawned on Fry: Why not complete a deep dive on a hitter he knows pretty well? Why not evaluate himself?
“I was like, ‘Huh. I hit fastballs up,’” he said. “‘Maybe I should do that.’”
Of course, this is material hitting coaches collect and disperse. But Fry needed to see it for himself. And to do that, he needed more evidence. He needed more playing time. He has finally earned it, because he can’t stop pummeling baseballs. His hard-hit rate has increased. His strikeout rate has decreased. His metrics suggest this isn’t some two-month mirage. He might not finish the season with a 1.092 OPS, and since he has only recently moved into an almost-everyday role, his sample is smaller than many of the ones his colleagues have compiled. But his inputs reflect a better hitter than he’s shown in the past.
Advertisement
So maybe this is just a 28-year-old realizing what he can provide.
“What David is doing right now isn’t a fluke,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
Fry reported to Brewers minor-league camp in the middle of March 2022. His first day, as he caught a bullpen session, Milwaukee officials informed him he was being traded to Cleveland, and that this had been brewing for months.
Before the lockout after the 2021 season, the Guardians sent pitcher J.C. Mejía to the Brewers for a player to be named later. Cleveland targeted Fry as the return, but Fry was eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft — if there was a Rule 5 draft. Once the 99-day lockout ceased, the league opted to scrap the Rule 5 draft, so the Guardians could finalize the swap: Mejía for Fry.
Mejía has since received 80- and 162-game bans for failed performance-enhancing drug tests. Fry, meanwhile, has been the anonymous, ever-lurking threat behind José Ramírez and Josh Naylor in Vogt’s lineup. When an opposing team summons a lefty to face Naylor, Fry and his 1.399 OPS against southpaws are waiting in the on-deck circle.
Fry is aware of the numbers. He spots them every time he walks toward the batter’s box. He acknowledges it’s impossible not to peer at the scoreboard.
“It’s so massive,” he said, laughing.
Not a hot take:
David Fry is an All-Star.pic.twitter.com/taQQdwLN5N
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 1, 2024
He tries his damnedest not to think about how much an 0-for-2 dropped his batting average as he strolls to the plate a third time in a game. That line of thinking plagued him far worse last season when his playing time was limited. He’d ride the bench for a week or more, and then when his name surfaced in a starting lineup, he felt like his career was at stake.
“(It was), ‘Wow, if I don’t go 3-for-4, I’m not going to play,’” he said. “Now, if I have a bad game, I know Vogt is going to find a way to get me back in the lineup. There’s not so much pressure on myself, like, ‘You have to play well today.’ No, just prepare and whatever the results are, the results are.”
Advertisement
It’s a lot easier to work him into the lineup when he can bounce all around the diamond, too. Fry has started eight games at catcher, eight games at first base and 11 games in the outfield. He’s been a godsend for Vogt when the rookie manager is plotting late-game switches and pinch-hitting decisions. Granted, any manager would prioritize playing time for a guy with a .342/.479/.613 slash line. There’s a reason Vogt has referred to Fry as the heart and soul of the club.
“He’s taking his walks. He’s impacting the ball,” Valaika said. “Those are ingredients we want in the lineup every day.”
A driving factor behind Fry’s surge? His selectiveness. He ranks in the 91st percentile in chase rate. He has essentially cut it in half from where it stood last year and in the minors. He has drawn nearly as many walks as strikeouts this season, and his walk rate ranks among the best in the league. He’s forcing pitchers to throw him pitches in his preferred locations, pitches he knows he can handle.
Fry acknowledged “it’s so hard to get better at not swinging at balls,” and for that, Valaika praised “his stubbornness to stick with that plan.”
“You’ll see him maybe look silly on one pitch,” Valaika said, “but then it won’t happen twice. He’s making those in-at-bat adjustments.”
It’s convenient to stick with a plan when it’s working. Fry has served as an example of why the Guardians refuse to predict what an inexperienced player might become. Any projection comes with a ceiling. And when confidence meets opportunity, who knows what a player can accomplish? Sometimes a player to be named later blossoms into a player you can’t do without.
“Ride those hot streaks as long as you can,” Valaika said. “You know they don’t last forever. But the way he’s approaching it, it might not be as hot as it is, but we’re not going to see a drop-off in production.”
(Photo: Ken Blaze / USA Today)