David Fry (baseball)

The Milwaukee Brewers selected Fry in the seventh round, with the 215th overall selection, of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.^[3] He split his first professional season between the rookie-level Helena Brewers and the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, playing in 63 games and slashing .312/.400/.550 with 12 home runs and 57 RBI.^[4]

Fry spent the 2019 back with Single-A Wisconsin, playing in 134 games and hitting .258/.329/.444 with 17 home runs, 70 RBI, and 7 stolen bases.^[5] He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6] Returning to action in 2021, Fry spent time with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers and the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. In 94 total games, he batted a cumulative .255/.348/.449 with 12 home runs and 46 RBI.^[7]

On March 13, 2022, Fry was traded to the Cleveland Guardians as the player to be named later in the trade that sent J. C. Mejía to Milwaukee.^[8] He spent the year with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, playing in 119 games and hitting .256/.329/.450 with 17 home runs and 74 RBI. He began the 2023 season with Columbus, hitting .289/.381/.478 with 2 home runs in 25 games.^[9]

On May 1, 2023, Fry was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time.^[10] He made his major league debut that same day as a pinch runner for Josh Bell against the New York Yankees.^[11] He gave up three homers, 10 hits and seven runs while pitching the last four innings in relief in a 20–6 loss to the Minnesota Twins on September 4. His 64 pitches was the second-most by a non-pitcher, surpassed only by the 65 thrown on May 14, 1988, by José Oquendo who was the previous position player who had a four-inning relief outing.^[12]

Fry made the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.^[13] In 122 games for Cleveland, he batted .263/.356/.448 with 14 home runs and 51 RBI.^[14] In Game 4 of the 2024 ALDS, Fry hit a key home run in the 7th inning and a RBI bunt in the 9th inning to extend the series and help the Guardians advance to the ALCS.^[15] In Game 3 of the ALCS, Fry hit a two-run walk-off home run off Clay Holmes to left center field in the bottom of the 10th to give the Guardians a 7–5 victory.^[16]

Fry missed the beginning of the 2025 season as a result of elbow surgery. The surgery was a hybrid/internal brace and tendon reconstruction surgery to address a flexor strain and "chronically insufficient" ulnar collateral ligament.^[17] On May 31, 2025, Fry was activated off of the injured list.^[18] In 66 appearances for Cleveland, he batted .171/.229/.363 with eight home runs, 23 RBI, and one stolen base. On September 23, Fry was hit in the face by a 99-mile-per-hour (159 km/h) fastball thrown by Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers, that was narrowly deflected off his bat during a bunt attempt (resulting in a foul ball, not a hit-by-pitch). Fry was able to board the on-field ambulance under his own power, and was taken to a hospital for observation.^[19] The next day, Fry was ruled out for 6-to-8 weeks after he was diagnosed with multiple facial fractures.^[20] On October 7, it was announced that Fry would require surgery to repair a deviated septum and fractured nose.^[21]

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