Brian Snitker’s biggest weakness doomed Max Fried’s return from injury for Braves

After cutting the Philadelphia Phillies NL East lead to five games just a few short days ago, the Braves suffered a setback paired with unusual timing on Sunday, as they lost to the Miami Marlins in Max Fried's return from injury.

Fried's return was rather rushed. Typically, when pitchers of his caliber come off the injured list, they make a rehab start or two. In Fried's case, that could have occurred in Gwinnett, Augusta or any one of the Braves minor-league affiliates. However, with Atlanta in desperate need of pitching help due to subsequent injuries to the likes of Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Strider and more, Fried made the jump straight back to the bigs.

It did not go well, as Fried walked five batters in just over three innings of work. The Atlanta co-ace made few excuses, of course, as his workmanlike attitude would not allow him to.

“I wanted to contribute because we’ve been playing really well and we had things rolling,” Fried said. “It’s definitely frustrating.”

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Brian Snitker, Braves set Max Fried up for failure

As indicated by MLB.com's Mark Bowman, the Braves bold strategy with Fried had a few very obvious holes.

"Fried was throwing aggressively without limitations as the Braves concluded a four-game series in New York on July 28. But he hadn’t spent much time on the mound and hadn’t faced hitters since his brief appearance in the All-Star Game. His most recent regular-season start had been on July 11," Bowman wrote.

That kind of break, even for a pitcher of Fried's caliber, is not easy to overcome. There is some must to shake off, and unfortunately for Fried it had to come in his first MLB start back against the Marlins, rather than in Triple-A.

The Marlins traded much of their regular contributors at the deadline, but still possess many talented hitters. The gap between major-league and minor-league lineups is as wide as its ever been, thus giving Fried a chance to fine-tune his approach, and more importantly get his feel back, could have helped the 30-year-old find his control before his first pitch on Sunday against Miami.