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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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 Baseball scorekeep ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and

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) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

from 1990 to 2002. He is currently a hitting instructor for the

Cleveland Guardians 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 , the team has played its home gam ...

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

, and 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 as well as in 2015.

Early life

Fryman was born in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

, to Bill Fryman, a

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coach and tire store manager. The family moved to

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, when Fryman was three years old, and variously lived in Pensacola and

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. Fryman attended a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church every Sunday as a child. He led Gonzalez J. M. Tate High School to a Florida high-school championship over Lake Mary High School at

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

in 1986.

Detroit Tigers

The

drafted Fryman in the first round of the 1987 Major League Baseball draft 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 The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

, 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 Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

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 the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best Batting (baseball), offensive player at each Baseball positions, position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (baseball), National League (NL), as determ ...

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 are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

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 al ...

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

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

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 Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. 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 In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

(.516),

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

(.392),

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

(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 The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual Fielding (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

. 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 showcases 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 division, bu ...

. 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 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, in 2008. It was his managerial debut after having worked as an infield instructor with the Indians during

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

that year.Mahoning Valley Scrappers: Coaches
/ref> Fryman has also served as a hitting instructor for the Guardians farm system, traveling to all of the Guardians AAA, AA, and A minor league teams, including the Akron Aeros in 2013.

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 Pensacola, 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 20th-century American sportsmen