Fried was selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round, seventh overall of the 2012 MLB draft.

[5] Max began attending the Reggie Smith Baseball Academy in Encino, California, at the age of seven, and learned how to throw a curveball from the retired outfielder.

[7] Fried first attended Montclair College Preparatory School, in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, where he played baseball, football, and basketball.

[8] As a sophomore, with Ethan Katz as his pitching coach, he was 10–3 with a 1.81 earned run average (ERA), and was named the Olympic League MVP and to the All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division V first team.

[9][10][11] In his junior year Fried was 7–3 with a 1.31 ERA, with 100 strikeouts in 69 innings, as he also played outfield and batted .360 with four home runs and 30 RBIs.

[12][13] He was named the 2011 Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Male High School Athlete of the Year.

[10] After Montclair Prep cut its baseball team subsequent to his junior year, Fried then transferred to Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, where he wore uniform number 32 in honor of Sandy Koufax and played with fellow future MLB pitchers Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty.

[17] Fried chose to sign with the Padres for $3 million despite his commitment to the UCLA Bruins baseball team.

[19] Fried made his professional debut for the Arizona League Padres in 2012 and spent the whole season there, going 0–1 with a 3.57 ERA in 17.2 innings pitched.

The next month, on August 20, Fried underwent Tommy John surgery; he missed the remainder of the 2014 season.

[24] Fried spent all of 2016 with Rome, pitching to an 8–7 record and 3.93 ERA in 21 games (20 starts), striking out 112 batters in 103.0 innings.

Fried ended the season ranked by Baseball America as the 6th-best prospect in the South Atlantic League.

[34] He debuted on August 8, throwing two scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, displaying what David O'Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "a devastating curveball".

[35][36] Two weeks later, Fried returned to the minor leagues, joining the AAA Gwinnett Braves.

[41][42] He ranked first among starters with a .163 opponents' batting average, was second in fewest-baserunners-allowed-per-nine-innings (7.96), and was named to the AFL's Top Prospects Team.

[43] In December, Braves manager Brian Snitker said that he might look at Fried, Lucas Sims, or another pitcher as the team's fifth starter in 2018.

[51][52][53] In 2019 Fried was 17–6 with a 4.02 ERA, as in 33 games (30 starts) he pitched 165.2 innings in which he struck out 173 batters.

[65] On defense, Fried led all major league pitchers in assists for the second consecutive season (with 15), tied for the MLB lead in pickoffs (with 4; with his 9 in 2019–20 he was tops in major league baseball), and led all pitchers with five Defensive Runs Saved.

[75][76] His first career complete game shutout was a Maddux, pitched against the Baltimore Orioles on August 20, 2021.

[38] In the three years in which Fried was a starter, from 2019 to 2021, he led all National League pitchers in wins (38), was tied for the lead in shutouts (2), was 2nd in the vertical movement of his curveball (−11.6 inches; batters hit .183/.218/.294 against it), and had the third-lowest barrels percentage in balls hit against him (5.0%).

[89] Fried won the final game of the 2021 World Series with six shutout innings against the Astros, who had led the majors in batting average and runs for the season, with Houston's three-time batting champion Jose Altuve observing: "He was almost unhittable.

[91][92] He became the third Braves pitcher to win multiple Gold Glove Awards, joining Greg Maddux and Phil Niekro.

[98] Fried was the final recipient of the Silver Slugger Award for pitchers, as the National League permanently implemented the designated hitter in 2022.

[99] Through 2021, of the Braves career leaders, Fried was second in win–loss percentage (.690; behind Russ Ortiz and ahead of Greg Maddux).

[105][106] For the season, Fried was 14–7 with a 2.48 ERA (3rd in the NL; 10th-lowest in Atlanta franchise history), in 30 starts in which he pitched 185.1 innings with 170 strikeouts.

[112] He became the first Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux to win three straight Gold Glove Awards.

[114] The only other pitchers who have won the award three times in a row have been Harvey Haddix, Bobby Shantz, Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro, and Zack Greinke.

[119] As the Opening Day starter for the third straight year, Fried was removed in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals.

[131][132] In Fried's season debut, the second game of the year against the Philadelphia Phillies, he recorded only two outs.

[38] In 2024, Fried was 11–10 with one shutout in 29 starts covering 174.1 innings, in which he gave up 146 hits and 57 walks while striking out 166 batters, and led the NL in ground ball percentage (58.8%) while having the second-lowest exit velocity (86.3 mph) and percentage of "hard speed" contact induced (26.1%).