In more ways than one, it’s been the season of Freddie Freeman’s discontent, but the veteran Braves slugger has been around long enough to realize there’s plenty of time to change some storylines.
He spoke candidly about his and the team’s frustrating season Friday afternoon in his first interview with Atlanta media in three weeks. He showed that he’s retained his sense of humor and also expressed optimism about turning things around. A few hours later, Freeman sent a jolt through Truist Park with a first-inning homer while many in a sold-out crowd of 40,514 were still finding their seats in a series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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But his 13th homer and first since May 18, a solo shot to straightaway center on a two-strike, 94.6 mph fastball from left-hander Julio Urías, was the only run the Braves scored in the 9-5 loss until the eighth inning, when they scored four runs after falling behind 8-1.
Braves rookie Ian Anderson took a 1-0 lead through four innings before giving up a hit, but the bottom fell out for Anderson and relievers Sean Newcomb and Grant Dayton during an eight-run fifth inning in which the Dodgers scored their first four runs while getting just one hit.
They scored two runs on fielder’s-choice grounders in which the Braves failed to get the out at home — Austin Riley hit one runner in the back, and Anderson’s toss to the plate on a bunt was high – then scored two more on a pair of bases-loaded walks by Newcomb, who was replaced after walking three consecutive batters.
Dayton gave up an RBI single and three-run double to the first two batters he faced, and the Braves had seen things quickly deteriorate from a 1-0 lead after four innings to an utter debacle of an inning. This was another low point in a season full of them.
The 9-5 loss dropped the Braves to 26-29, and they still haven’t been above .500 this season.
Freeman, the 2020 NL MVP, entered Friday batting .227 with a .356 OBP and .443 slugging percentage for an .800 OPS in 53 games. He posted a stunning .341/.462/.640 slash line with 13 homers and 53 RBIs in 2020 while playing all 60 games in the shortened season.
His 1.102 OPS was second-best in the majors behind the 1.185 Juan Soto posted in 13 fewer games.
Though Freeman didn’t expect to match that bloated slash line again in a normal season, the 31-year-old star also never imagined such paltry hitting for the first one-third of the season after he entered the season with a .295 career average and .892 OPS in 11 seasons.
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Freeman also couldn’t have expected to be this far into the final year of his contract without an extension, or at least without negotiations being well underway.
The Braves have not initiated extension talks yet. Freeman has said often in the past year that he hopes to spend his entire career in Atlanta, and general manager Alex Anthopoulos has said that the team had similar hopes of keeping Freeman in a Braves uniform for years to come.
Freeman and his wife, Chelsea, welcomed two newborn sons this winter, making them a family of five. To say it’s been a whirlwind and an emotional roller coaster over the past several months would be an understatement.
He discussed a lot of that with reporters Friday afternoon. Here’s the interview, edited slightly for clarity.
On the season so far
It’s been frustrating. I’ve felt good multiple times during this season, and I’ve told you guys before, I feel like there’s one big glove out there for me. I was talking to my dad last night and he was like, “Freddie, you’ve got to be positive.” That’s the hardest thing in this game. It’s like, you go up there and you hit a ball hard, and you’re making a right turn back to the dugout. He goes, “It can’t statistically stay like this for six months.” He was like, “Freddie, I think you’re like 30 balls hard-hit (for outs).” You know, he was trying to give me all the numbers to make me feel better, being a dad. You know, I’m just like fuming through the phone at him. Because I don’t want to hear that. I’d rather hit the ball 42 miles an hour and get a hit.
But you know, it’s run its course the last couple of days. I think it was two or three games ago, I went 0-for-4 with a walk. And my first at-bat, Ronald (Acuña Jr.) was on second, moved him over, so I was OK with that. And then I proceeded to hit three balls up the middle. I’ve been taught my whole life to try to hit a line drive up the middle (or) to the opposite field, and it went 110 (mph), 105, 105, and I was 0-for-4 going into my last at-bat. So the frustration has kind of, you know, it’s been there. It’s just kind of accumulated over the last couple of months.
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I try to take a step back, like my dad said. And I have been hitting the ball hard, it has been going up the middle, so hopefully they’ll start falling soon. But I feel great, the body feels great, I’ve been able to do my work. Obviously, hitting .220, I think you guys all know, it kills me. All I care about, as you guys know, is having a 3 at the beginning of my batting average. It’s been tough the first two months, but we’ve still got 106, 107 games to go. Like my dad said, it can’t statistically stay like this, or I might have gray hair in September. Hopefully, they’ll start falling (for hits). I don’t know if I should move up in the box, stand different, I don’t know. But like I said, yesterday I hit a 103-mile-an-hour bullet to left-center that I thought was going to go, and then lined out the next at-bat, too. It is what it is, but it’s definitely frustrating so far.
As the slow start has gone on, have you found yourself getting out of your approach at the plate, getting in any bad habits for a few at-bats or anything like that?
There’s been a couple of times where I’ll hit a line drive to left field and I’m like, well, maybe if I got on that and tried to pull it, it would have been in the right-center field gap instead of lining out to center field. And the next thing you know I’m way ahead of a slider. So I’ve been fighting like trying (to think), how can I get a ball in the gap? Because when I do get a base hit it seems to never get to the wall, and I like doubles and I haven’t been getting those, either. So I have been trying to find a way. I stayed taller — like, standing taller, maybe that would work. And that has worked a little bit; in Milwaukee, I stayed taller against lefties. But that’s the hardest thing in this game is to keep your approach. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the last six, seven years, and it’s worked.
I’m still trying to hit the line drive up the middle. You know, it can’t just keep going at the (defensive) guys, or I’ll be talking to you about hitting .220 in September this year. So I can’t come off of (his approach), because if I try and start pulling the ball I’ll be hitting .180. I mean, I’ve still got a lot of walks. I haven’t had an RBI, it feels like, in a month, either. So it’s been frustrating. But I’ve got to keep going. Just like my dad said, it can’t stay like this, at least I hope. This game is cruel; it could. I guess we’ll find out together.
Chipper Jones said a couple of weeks ago that he had a season like you’re having (the Hall of Famer hit .248 with 30 homers in 2004 in his age-32 season, after hitting .309 to that point of his career and four years before he would win the NL batting title). How reassuring was that, coming from him?
I mean, I don’t want to have a .230 season. But it seems like we’re kind of on the same trajectory; he did his .238 or .236 or something like that with 30 home runs one year. I really don’t want to do that, guys. But Chipper, he’s been through it all. I’ve been through some tough stretches, but not kind of like this. Usually it kind of rights its course on its own. Granted, we haven’t even gotten to 60 games left. There’s still a lot of time. Hopefully, we can get some balls to fall. I mean, every day everyone says, “They’ll fall, it’s got to change.” I feel like it’s been told to me for about three weeks now. I’m kind of getting tired of hearing it. Kind of tired of “Way to hit the ball hard,” you know? That’s what it seems it’s been like the last week or two. Hopefully, I don’t hit .230.
Chipper also said distractions can be real, and that he knows having gone through a lot of stuff in his career, including two divorces while he was playing. He said off-the-field stuff can affect a player. For instance, having two new babies and perhaps not getting your usual sleep. Has anything off the field affected you?
I don’t think so. Obviously, this is the first season of having three kids and two newborns. It was tough in spring training. Being away from my family, that was definitely tough. Kind of put me in a little hole. And then having to leave the kids every week, it is extremely tough. But about three weeks ago, we had the homestand and then we went to Milwaukee for three days and came right back home. That was huge for me. … That’s the hardest thing for me, is leaving every week and feeling like I wasn’t getting the bonding time. But everything’s been going smooth at the house, as much as smooth can go with two newborns. We’re having a great time.
I feel good, the home life is good. Obviously, I’ve never had three kids before in a season, so this is a first. But everything’s gone a lot smoother, and being back with my family the last couple of months has been huge for me. But I thought having kids would give me dad strength, and it hasn’t done that yet. Maybe it’ll start in June.
And nothing else that’s unprecedented for you this season (for example, being in the final year of a contract) has affected you this year, either?
No. That is what it is. It’s the same as when you guys asked me in New York when we were playing the Yankees — nothing. Nothing’s going on. So, we’ve got four more months, and put it off to the side.
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You can commiserate with Mookie Betts and Christian Yelich. There’s quite a few MVPs or MVP-caliber players not having great seasons.
Well, Mookie will do it starting Tuesday, not this week.
And you’ll do it tonight?
Yeah, hopefully we can line some balls in the gap tonight. But it has been weird. I have been watching guys around the league. Like Manny Machado. There’s been so many injuries, every guy throws 100 (mph), every ball’s moving like crazy, you face three to four guys every game, and then now they’re playing (defenders) all over the place where you usually hit the ball. So the game is hard. It already is the hardest sport, and now I feel like it’s gotten a lot harder. We all have the stats on the back of the baseball card. I feel like we’ll all get there at the end of the year. When you go through it it’s tough. But if you keep sticking with your plan and your approach, I feel like there’s no way I’ll line out all year. I don’t think. If we do, my teeth might match my hair color.
On the Dodgers series this weekend
It’s going to be awesome. I don’t think there’s going to be a seat not sat in. So it’s going to be fun. Obviously what happened last year, with being one game away from the World Series, is tough. But that’s in the past. All we’ve got to worry about is trying to put together consistent winning ballgames. Tucker (Davidson) was fantastic yesterday, and Ozzie (Albies) and Dansby (Swanson), they’ve been hot lately. Obviously, they (Dodgers) have got a really good team over there. I think their bullpen is pretty good, too. Kenley Jansen is back to throwing like he normally does. (Blake) Treinen, I don’t know how he throws balls like that. You’ve got to face (starting pitchers Julio) Urías, (Clayton) Kershaw and (Trevor) Bauer. You’re like, “Oh yeah, you miss (Walker) Buehler … but wait. We see these other guys.” It’s going to be fun. Ian (Anderson), Charlie (Morton) and Max (Fried) are right there with them. So this should be a good series. Hopefully, it plays out that way this weekend and we’ll get a series win.
On the Braves’ first 54 games through Thursday, one-third of the season
I mean, it feels like for two months, it’s like we win a couple of games, we lose four. We get to .500, we lose four. The first time I looked at the standings was two days ago, and we were 4 1/2 back. I think the Mets — that’s too late for me being on the West Coast; they’re (playing) over in California, I’m pretty sure they lost — so being 3 1/2 back with what we have gone through in the first two months, and the division not playing like we thought it was going to play this year, I think we should be pretty fortunate. When you lose the middle-of-the-order guys and you lose two starters, Chris Martin was down for a while, no one’s really hit except for Ronald and Austin (Riley), now Ozzie and Dans are starting to go, so hopefully I can get going with them. … To be pretty fortunate, I would say that’s the word you would use — fortunate. Because it could have been a lot worse. But we are only 3 1/2 games back and it’s the first week of June, so we can get going. Obviously, it’s going to be a tough matchup here this weekend, but this is what good teams (do). You’ve got to beat the good teams to get to the end. So hopefully we can do that.
(Photo: Michael Zarrilli / Getty Images)
