Braves: Freddie Freeman Builds Hall of Fame Case with MVP

Freddie  Freeman finally won that elusive MVP and now the Atlanta Braves first baseman is making a strong case for the Hall of Fame one day.

It was certainly an exciting day for Atlanta Braves fans on Thursday night as they saw their franchise player who has been overlooked for most of his career finally win the highest individual achievement this sport has to offer.

Less than a year ago our own James Kunkle wrote about Freeman’s possible Hall of Fame case.

But now that he’s won an MVP I think it increases his chances significantly.

A lot of people like to compare the career paths of Chipper Jones and Freddie Freeman with the Braves.

Chipper obviously passed the torch on to Freddie when he retired and Freddie has carried this franchise through the good and the bad as Chipper did.

Eventually, Freddie will hopefully pass the torch onto Ronald Acuna Jr. and hopefully both of them will remain Braves for their entire careers.

Now that Freddie has that MVP to match the one that Chipper got in 1999, there is only one thing missing on Freddie’s resume — a World Series ring.

The Braves are certainly in a good position to help him get that done as well over the next five seasons. But I think that takes his Hall of Fame case to yet another level.

However, getting into the Hall of Fame as a first baseman is not an easy task — just ask for Brave Fred McGriff.

According to Baseball Reference’s all-time leaderboard for WAR among first baseman, Freeman currently sits at 50th with 38.5 WAR.

Just about every first baseman who has had a career WAR of 60 or better has made the Hall of Fame. Those who haven’t or either still active or suspected steroid users.

That means Freeman would have to accumulate nearly 20 more WAR the rest of his career.

Just FYI, McGriff ranks 29th on that list with 52.6 WAR.

From 2013-2019, Freeman averaged 4.6 WAR per season. He accumulated 2.9 WAR in a shortened 2020 season, so you can safely assume he would have added another 2 WAR had it been a full season.

Who knows how the voters will ultimately look at this 2020 season and take that into account, but one could assume that Freddie is already at 40 career WAR.

But assuming he maintains that 4.6 WAR average for another five seasons that puts him at a career WAR of 61.5.

You add in a World Series champion, a Gold Glove first baseman, and perhaps a couple of more top-five MVP finishes and I think Freddie is a sure bet to make the Hall of Fame one day.