Atlanta Braves’ 2017 End of the Season Awards
By Tyler Wilson
Most Valuable Player – Freddie Freeman
(117 G, 514 PA): .307.403/.586, 35 2B, 2 3B, 28 HR, 71 RBI, 61 BB, 91 SO
Was this one really a surprise? I figured it’d be best to get the easy one out of the way first.
Any way you look at it, Freddie Freeman is the Atlanta Braves’ MVP. Even though he missed 43 games with a fractured wrist, Freddie gave opposing pitchers nightmares in the 117 games he did play this year.
Here’s what Freddie’s numbers this season would have looked like through 162 games:
.307/.403/.586, 48 2B, 3 3B, 39 HR, 98 RBI, 84 BB, 126 SO
That stat line would have put him in the NL MVP talks for sure, but let’s not forget the regression that came following his wrist injury, and the fact that Freeman admittedly was playing with his wrist at just 80-85 percent.
Freddie was hitting at a torrid pace before breaking his wrist, posting a 1.209 OPS and edging Ryan Zimmerman in the MVP race at the time. Freddie Freeman will come back healthy in 2018, and you better believe he’s going to shove his name into MVP conversation.