Atlanta Braves 2018 Projections: Freddie Freeman
The 2018 season is a pivotal season for the Atlanta Braves. How does Freddie Freeman project for next season? Possible MVP year?
Last season, Freddie Freeman was on pace to be in the conversation for the Atlanta Braves‘ first National League MVP award since 1999 until a running fastball from Blue Jays pitcher Aaron Loup hit the first baseman on the wrist, side-lining him with a fractured left wrist for a period of time.
Freeman’s swing seemed off at times due to lingering issues with his wrist, but besides that he still had a very good offensive year. In 2017 Freeman had a slash line of .307/.403/.586 which is solid – especially considering what he had to deal with.
Despite missing significant time, the superstar first baseman slugged 28 homers and drove in 71 runs. These stats were obviously down from the previous year, but had Freeman played all season those numbers would have been a lot higher.
With a full 2017 season at the pace Freeman was going, Braves country would’ve been calling for an MVP award for their face of the franchise.
Last year made a lot of Braves fans wonder what Freeman could have accomplished if he played the entire season. Look for 2018 to be the answer to that question.
A Look Ahead
The 2018 season is going to be an interesting year for the Braves. With a lot of trust being put into younger players, guys like Freeman will be charged with leading the team on both sides of the ball.
Freddie has been an exceptional leader for this team over the last few years, so expect nothing less from him this upcoming season. Guys like Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies, and eventually Ronald Acuña, will benefit tremendously from watching how the 28 year-old All-Star goes about his business each day. Look for Freddie’s leadership to be a valuable asset for this team in 2018.
Also here’s an interesting thought before we get to the projections.
During the off-season fan event, Chopfest, Freeman announced that he had LASIK surgery. We all know Freddie has worn glasses while not on the field, so maybe his vision was getting to the point to where he needed to have this procedure done to prevent the need of glasses on the field as well. Or maybe this was just a precautionary surgery that was scheduled to get rid of the glasses once and for all.
No information regarding the reason for the procedure has been provided as of the date of this being written.
I am going to say that this was just a surgery to prevent his vision from worsening to the point of it effecting his ability to see the ball. Although I do not think this will hurt him going forward, it remains unanswered at this point. Hopefully later in Spring Training we can get some more information on this surgery.
2018 Projections
A quick note on how I based my predictions for Freddie, and how I will continue to base them in future predictions. I am going to use projections from FanGraphs for the featured player, and also their previous stats over the course of the last 3-5 seasons. Now on to the good news for Braves’ fans.
With a rejuvenating off-season and time to get his wrist back to full health, Freeman will be back to his old ways in 2018.
653 PA .306/.406/.578 170 H 34 HR 121 RBI
My Projections:
690 PA .305/.405/.590 177 H 35 HR 105 RBI
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Look for Freddie Freeman to have a career season when it comes to homers and runs batted in. FanGraphs are spot on with their predictions in my opinion, as I feel with a full, healthy season, Freddie will be the class of the NL this upcoming season.
Freddie has always been an above-average defender as well, but the gold glove at first base has belonged to Paul Goldschmidt for 3 of the past 5 years. It will be hard to win the award, but stranger things have happened.
Those numbers could compete with anyone in the NL for the MVP award, but odds are if the Braves aren’t in the playoff picture Freeman will not get enough votes to win the award.
Next: A Battle Royal set to begin
2018 is a big stepping stone in the Braves switch from being a re-builder to contender. Leadership and thunder from Freeman in the three-hole will go a long way in providing hope and promise for what the future will hold for your Atlanta Braves.