Now in the midst of his prime, Atlanta Braves fans have grown accustomed to yearly excellence from Freddie Freeman. But you’re crazy if you think he’s satisfied yet!
Maybe we’re just used to the fact that Freddie Freeman is the main man, or the ‘face’ of the Atlanta Braves, giving us a sense of comfortability and putting us at ease at the dawn of each new season.
Whether it’s a ‘rebuild’ year or a year in which the Braves are expected to compete for Championships, we know there’s at least one constant intact from the previous year. I think we’ve all taken him for granted, but then again, how can you blame us?
The Atlanta Braves have had the luxury of rostering the best modern-day first baseman to ever play for them, in Freddie Freeman.
*ALL-TIME GREAT ALERT: Freddie Freeman is currently ranked #10 in Braves all-time offensive WAR with 30.5 bWAR. First baseman, Fred Tenney (in the org. from1894-1907), played for the Boston Braves and is #7 with 32.9 bWAR.
From the end of an era where division titles were part of the yearly norm, through the several years of losing and having absolutely no expectations, and now… once again, a franchise that is ready to achieve greatness in hopes of winning a World Championship — there has been Freddie.
Consistent Excellence
It’s hard to believe that Freeman is now 29-years-old and entering his 10th season with the Braves. It seems like it was just a short time ago that he was a 20-year-old rookie making his debut against the Mets in September of 2010.
He was involved in only 20 games that inaugural season, but by 2011 he was the starter at first base. The numbers are quite staggering since that first full season. Check them out:
Freddie Freeman (2011-2018)
- Has averaged 146 games per season
- Slashed .293/.379/.498Â (.877 OPS)
- 188 total home runs (avg. 24 HR/season)
- 284 doubles (avg. 36 per season)
- 1,271 hits (avg. 159 per season)
- 30.4 fWARÂ (avg. 3.37 fWAR per season)
The consistency has been unbelievable, coupled with the fact that for the most part Freddie has relatively avoided any serious injuries during his nine seasons with the Braves — it has been some great years.
The 2018 season consisted of Freeman’s second-best season in terms of fWAR, as he accrued 5.2 fWAR (2016 was his best with 6.1 fWAR). The last three campaigns he has been very valuable:
- 2016 — 6.1 fWAR
- 2017 — 4.4 fWAR
- 2018 — 5.2 fWAR
Freeman is an artist with the bat, almost always putting up competitive at-bats and frankly being a pest to pitchers on the mound. He’s currently running the 6th-highest on-base percentage in baseball since 2016, basically reaching base 40 percent of the time with a .396 OBP.
All of that getting-on-base has helped Freeman generate a well above-average 146 wRC+, which ranks seventh amongst all players in Major League Baseball over the past three seasons.
Last Season’s Performance
What’s very interesting about Freddie Freeman is that he can literally choose what kind of hitter he wants to be, meaning that if he wants to showcase power and profile as your typical corner-infield slugger — he can. And if he wants to be more of a pure hitter that hits 40 doubles a season — he can be that guy as well.
Freeman has given the Braves both throughout his career. In 2018 — he played all 162 games by the way — Freddie was more of a pure hitter, as he finished with a .309 batting average and 23 home runs. There were also plenty of doubles, with 44 total (a career high for him).
The 6’5″, 220-pound first baseman even stole 10 bases in 2018 — as Chipper Jones was in his days — Freddie is an excellent base runner. He’s more ‘smart’ on the basepaths than fast, but don’t underestimate his wheels.
The batted-ball profile looked very consistent with his previous seasons, though, he actually improved his hard-hit rate from 37.5 percent in 2017, to a 41.9 percent rate last season. That’s the thing with Freddie, he’s not one to usually get cheap hits.
So we saw how good he was in 2018, but will he be better in 2019? Is this the year he finally wins an NL MVP instead of flirting with the idea? He does have three top-10 NL MVP Award finishes, you know.
Let’s see what the projection industry is thinking…