I've always pre-washed and I can say that there were fabrics that frayed more than others. Some may be due to the cut (ie if it was cut slightly off WOF), but for the most part I think the quality of the fabric played a LARGE part on how much the fabric frayed and shrunk.
Back when I was building my stash and buying a lot of fabric, I actually kept a log of which brands shrank and frayed the most. I'm in the middle of moving now so I can't dig it out (and there is every possibility that I tossed it). I do remember there being a correlation between the manufacturer and the amount of "loss". Off the top of my head though, I know batiks frayed and shrunk the least amount - due to the tighter weave.
Yes ... it got the point where I could touch the fabric and know if it was going to shrink and fray a lot. I could feel the looser weave and learned to stay away from those fabrics unless I absolutely had to have that particular print.