Jace Hayden Fry (born July 9, 1993) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who is a free agent. He has played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. Prior to his professional career, he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

Amateur career

Growing up in Beaverton,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, Fry played

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

in the 2006 Little League World Series, where the team made it to the U.S. championship game. Fry graduated from Southridge High School in Beaverton, and committed to enroll at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

on a

scholarship. The

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

selected Fry in the ninth round of the 2011 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, but Oakland did not offer Fry a sufficient

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

to convince him to forego college. Over the summer of 2011, Fry pitched in

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the

Corvallis Knights The Corvallis Knights, founded as the Aloha Knights, are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Corvallis, Oregon. Founded in 1990 in Beaverton by Dan and his brother Joe Segel, the Knights moved to Corvallis from Gresham in 2007. They p ...

of the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

(WCL). Fry injured his back in the WCL championship game, and required surgery. In his freshman year with the

Oregon State Beavers baseball The Oregon State Beavers baseball team represents Oregon State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the Pac-12 Conference. They are currently coached by Mitch Canham and assistant coaches Ryan Gipson, Darwin Bar ...

team, he had a 5–3

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

and a 2.45

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) in 13

games started In baseball statistics, games started (denoted by GS) indicates the number of games that a pitcher has started for his team. A pitcher is credited with starting the game if he throws the first pitch to the first opposing batter. If a player is lis ...

. In June 2012, he underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

after a 75% tear of the

ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) or internal lateral ligament is a thick triangular ligament at the medial aspect of the elbow uniting the distal aspect of the humerus to the proximal aspect of the ulna. Structure It consists of two portion ...

. ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' named Fry a Second Team Freshman

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n. After recovering from surgery, Fry pitched to a 0–1 record with a 4.70 ERA in six appearances in 2013. During the 2014 season, he pitched a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

on March 8 against the

Northern Illinois Huskies The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University (NIU). The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The athleti ...

. He finished the season with a record of 11–2 and a 1.80 ERA. He was named the

Pac-12 Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year The Pac-12 Conference pitcher of the Year is a baseball award given to the Pac-12 Conference's most outstanding pitcher. From 1991 to 1998, an award was given to the most outstanding pitcher in the South division. After the 1999 season, the divisi ...

. ''

Collegiate Baseball ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') is an American publication based in Arizona that considers itself the "voice of amateur baseball" which has been published for over 40 ...

'' named Fry a First Team All-American.

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

The

selected Fry in the third round, with the 77th overall selection, of the

2014 MLB draft The 2014 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 5 through June 7, 2014, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first two rounds were conducted on June 5, followed by rounds three through ten on June ...

. He signed with the White Sox, receiving a $760,000 signing bonus, and assigned him to make his professional debut with the

Great Falls Voyagers The Great Falls Voyagers are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Great Falls, Montana, and play their home games at Cente ...

of the Rookie-level Pioneer League and spent the whole season there, posting a 1-0 record and 2.79 ERA in 9.2 innings. Fry began the 2015 season with the

Winston-Salem Dash The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are a High-A team in the South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The Dash began playing their home games at ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. In June 2015, he underwent his second Tommy John surgery. Prior to his surgery, he was 1-8 with a 3.63 ERA in ten starts. He missed the 2016 season while rehabilitating from the surgery. The White Sox invited Fry to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

in 2017. In 2017, he pitched for the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Southern League where he went 2-1 with a 2.78 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 45.1 relief innings pitched. The White Sox promoted Fry to the major leagues on September 5, 2017. In 2018, his first full season, Fry recorded a 4.38 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 20 walks in innings. The following season, his ERA regressed to 4.75 as he walked 43 batters in 55 innings. With the 2020 Chicago White Sox, Fry appeared in 18 games, compiling a 0-1 record with 3.66 ERA and 24 strikeouts in innings pitched. In January 2021, Fry underwent a

microdiscectomy A discectomy (also called open discectomy, if done through a 1/2 inch or larger skin opening) is the surgical removal of abnormal disc material that presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord. The procedure involves removing a portion of an in ...

, likely to miss the first month of the 2021 season. On April 8, 2021, Fry was placed on the 60-day injured list. He was activated on June 26, and optioned to the Triple-A

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

. Fry posted a 10.80 ERA in 6 appearances with Chicago in 2021. On November 5, 2021, Fry was outrighted off of the 40-man roster and elected free agency.

Washington Nationals

On March 19, 2022, Fry signed a minor league contract with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. He was released on June 22, 2022.

Philadelphia Phillies

On June 29, 2022, Fry signed a minor league deal with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. He elected free agency on November 10, 2022.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Jace 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Beaverton, Oregon Baseball players from Oregon Southridge High School (Beaverton, Oregon) alumni Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago White Sox players Oregon State Beavers baseball players Great Falls Voyagers players Winston-Salem Dash players Birmingham Barons players All-American college baseball players