The MLB All 21st-Century Team: Freddie Freeman
The future HOFer has solidified his legacy during the 2020s.
In a world of power hitters, power pitchers, and a game dominated by three true outcomes—strikeouts, walks, and homers—there is Freddie Freeman.
Over fifteen big league seasons, Freeman has managed to accumulate a .300 batting average on the dot. That’s hurt by a down year this past season, where he hit .282 while missing 15 games due to injury. Seriously, though, if .280 is a down season, I think most people would take that kind of career any day.
The best first baseman in Braves history, though, cannot be solely defined by his contact prowess. Sure, he’s had 175 or more hits in eight of his fifteen seasons, but his 271 homers in Atlanta are the most by a first baseman in franchise history, most notably over Hall of Famer Fred McGriff.
“Frederick,” as fellow first baseman Anthony Rizzo called Freeman during a pickle, made a name for himself with Atlanta by being a model of consistency. The 2010s portion of his career demonstrates that beautifully; barring two injury riddled seasons in 2015 and 2017, Freeman was on the field nearly every game. The first four full years of his career went like this: 157 games played, 147, 147, 162. He’s played in all 162 games twice, seen there in 2014, as well as 2018. In six additional seasons, he’s played in a minimum of 157 games.
That amount of playing time has allowed Freddie to accumulate significant counting stats. Among active players, he’s fourth in WAR (60.7, already at Hall of Fame level), fourth in home runs (343), and first in hits (2,267), runs (1,298), doubles (508), RBIS (1,232), total bases (3,866), and intentional walks (135). Consistency helps, sure, but Freeman has managed to turn up his career to another gear in the 2020s.
In the pandemic-shortened season, Freeman managed to accrue his sole MVP award, a well-deserved honor given his 1.102 OPS and league leading 23 doubles. It would be the first of three times leading the majors in doubles, the other two coming in his first seasons in Los Angeles. That second season in LA might be the best of his career; in 161 games, he stoked 211 hits, the only time he’d crossed the 200-hit mark, 59 doubles, the seventh most in a season all-time, with a .331/.410/.567 triple slash, the highest batting average and slugging percentages of his career, as well as his second highest on-base percentage behind his MVP season.
Freeman turned 30 in 2020. He was a 10-year vet going into that season. He was 33 when he had his best season. Top it off with, once again, consistently average to above average defense annually, and it’s the perfect storm for an incredible player.
Within these last five seasons, Freeman has managed to transform his career from Hall of Very Good to certified Hall of Fame status. 2020 MVP aside, Freddie was a major contributor on the 2021 Braves championship team, helping to bring a title to Atlanta for the first time since 1995. Jorge Soler won MVP for his heroics, but Freddie did what Freddie does best: played consistently. He collected at least one hit in each of the six games in the Fall Classic that season, and mashed his own home run in Game 6. He hit .313 and had an OPS of .996, the latter of which was topped only by Soler. It was the type of season that caps off a legend’s career, and for Freeman, the chip solidified his status with Braves fans as an all-time great.
Then comes 2024.
Following that 2021 championship, the Braves made arguably one of the worst decisions in franchise history: They let Freddie Freeman walk. In his place, they brought in Matt Olson, then 28 and coming off of an eight-place MVP finish with Oakland. Olson is solid; in 2023, he led baseball with 54 homers, the most in a single season by a Brave. But he’s not Freddie; Olson doesn’t have the type of history that Freeman accumulated with Atlanta.
Naturally, Freeman decided to sign with a contender. He joined Mookie Betts, another former MVP, on the Los Angeles Dodgers, signing a 6-year, $162,000,000 contract. His time in Atlanta, the team that drafted him in 2007, had come to an end. In Los Angeles, though, he made a name for himself, totaling 410 hits in his first two seasons. Still, the team underperformed in the postseason, failing to reach the World Series in both 2022 and 2023. Then, they signed Shohei Ohtani. The synopsis: Ohtani won MVP, Dodgers make the World Series.
Freeman struggled down the stretch, and hobbled his way through the postseason on an injured ankle. Afterwards, he revealed that he’d broken his costal cartilage, which are attached to the ribcage. As someone who has bruised their costal cartilage in the past, I can definitively say that it hurts. That injury happened in early October, well before the series against the Yankees, and Freddie simply did not look like himself for much of the postseason as a result.
Still, Freeman managed to turn it up for his return to the biggest stage. In Game 1, the teams entered the tenth inning tied, 2-2, when the Yankees managed to put a run across in the top of the frame on a fielder’s choice. That put the Dodgers in a must-score situation immediately. Will Smith flew out to right field to start the inning. Two outs left. Gavin Lux walked, then advanced to second on a Tommy Edman single. The Yankees considered themselves lucky; Edman had made a splash during the NLCS, earning series MVP honors for his dominant performance over the Mets.
The Yankees had seen enough of reliever Jake Cousins, however, and were warming up Tim Hill and Nestor Cortes, both left-handers, in the bullpen. One of these two men were set to face Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman, the top of the Dodgers’ lineup. Hill allowed two runs the entire postseason, to the tune of a 1.08 ERA. Cortes had not pitched since mid-September, and had a 3.77 ERA on the season. The Yankees chose Cortes.
Chris Taylor came in to pinch-run for Lux. That’s inconsequential, but given Taylor’s long tenure with the Dodgers, he’s worth the mention. On Cortes’ first pitch, Ohtani fouled out to Alex Verdugo, who tumbled into the stands to make the catch. Both runners tagged. That doesn’t matter much, either, since Betts was intentionally walked to bring Freeman to the plate. The Yankees wanted to play the matchup. The matchup played them.
On the first pitch he saw, Freeman turned on an inside fastball that caught a lot of plate. Within a second, his bat is raised to the sky, and he, the Dodgers, the Yankees, and the world (this World Series had the highest TV ratings since 2017) watched that ball sail into the Los Angeles night, landing ten rows back into the bleachers. Dodger Stadium erupted, fans screaming and jumping and thrashing about, and Freeman himself screamed his way around the bases before being mobbed by teammates at home.
It’s the kind of moment that breaks your heart as a Yankees fan. For me, that’s what it did in the moment. By the next morning, though, it became what it truly is: beautiful baseball, and another great play by a great player. That’s the Freddie Freeman effect.