David Travis Fryman (born March 25, 1969) is an American former

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), ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

, and a hitting instructor for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

farm system. He also managed the

Mahoning Valley Scrappers The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Niles, Ohio, a city in the valley of the Mahoning River, and play their home games at Eastwood Field. From 1999 to 2020, they were ...

from 2008 to 2010 and in 2015, his final year in baseball.

Early life

Fryman was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to Bill Fryman, a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach and tire store manager. The family moved to Pensacola, Florida, when Fryman was three years old, and variously lived in Pensacola and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

. Fryman attended a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

church every Sunday as a child. He led Gonzalez Tate High School to a Florida high-school championship over Lake Mary High School at Rollins College in 1986.

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers drafted Fryman in the first round of the

1987 Major League Baseball draft The Major League Baseball Draft is the process by which Major League Baseball (MLB) teams select athletes to play for their organization. High school seniors, college juniors and seniors, and anyone who had never played under a professional con ...

out of Tate High School in Pensacola. He debuted with the Tigers at Tiger Stadium on July 7, 1990, in a 4–0 loss to the Kansas City Royals, playing shortstop, but ended up seeing more time at third over the course of his first season in the majors. Fryman split time between short and third in 1991 before an injury to Alan Trammell allowed him to inherit the starting shortstop job in 1992. He hit 20

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and drove in 96 runs to earn his first All-Star selection, and win the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. These voters co ...

at his position. Fryman started 1993 at shortstop, but earned the third base job by the end of the season. He remained at third for Detroit until joining the expansion

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

via a trade following the 1997 season for Matt Drews. Two weeks after joining the Diamondbacks, Fryman was traded again, along with pitcher Tom Martin, to the Indians for third baseman Matt Williams.

Cleveland Indians

Fryman batted .287 with 28 home runs and 96 RBIs his first season in Cleveland to help lead his team to the

American League Central The American League Central is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed in the realignment of 1994 by moving three teams from the American League West and two teams from the American League East. Its teams are all lo ...

division crown. Fryman batted only .167 with no RBIs and committed one

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

in the field in his first post-season as the Indians were ousted in the 1998 American League Championship Series by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. Injuries hampered Fryman in 1999. He rebounded to have his best season in 2000. He established career highs in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.321), slugging percentage (.516), on-base percentage (.392), hits (184), doubles, and RBIs (106). Additionally, he made only eight errors in the field and had a 60-game errorless streak on his way to winning a Gold Glove Award. He was also the starting third baseman for the American League at the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

. His teammates rewarded his efforts with the Gordon Cobbledick Golden Tomahawk Award, and the Cleveland Baseball Writers' Association named him their Man of the Year. Injuries once again limited Fryman in 2001, as he did not make his first appearance until June 2. In 2002, he had the lowest range factor of all major league third basemen (2.31), as well as the lowest zone rating (.680). In a 13-season career, Fryman posted a .274 batting average with 223 home runs and 1,022 RBIs in 1,698 games. Fryman retired after the 2002 season.

Coaching career

Fryman became the manager of the

, the short-season A affiliate of the Indians in the

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

, in 2008. It was his managerial debut after having worked as an infield instructor with the Indians during spring training that year.Mahoning Valley Scrappers: Coaches
/ref> Fryman has been mentioned as a possible manager for the

. David Wallace became the Scrappers' manager in 2011. Currently, Fryman is a hitting instructor for the Cleveland Indians farm system, traveling to all of the Indians AAA, AA, and A minor league teams.

Personal life

Fryman has three children, Mason, Branden, and Cole. He married his wife, Kathleen in the early 1990s. The couple became devout Christians after Kathleen met

Frank Tanana Frank Daryl Tanana (born July 3, 1953) is an American former professional baseball left-handed pitcher. In a Major League Baseball career that stretched from 1973 to 1993, he pitched for the California Angels, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, De ...

's wife, Cathy.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fryman, Travis 1969 births Akron Aeros players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American League All-Stars Baseball players from Lexington, Kentucky Baseball players from Florida Bristol Tigers players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cleveland Indians players Detroit Tigers players Fayetteville Generals players Gold Glove Award winners Living people London Tigers players Major League Baseball third basemen Minor league baseball managers Silver Slugger Award winners Toledo Mud Hens players