Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman’s slow start feels like eons ago. Freeman, fresh off his fifth All-Star nod, has been on a tear recently.
Entering Saturday, Freeman had gone 33 consecutive plate appearances without a swing and miss. He hasn’t swung and missed since the first inning July 11 against Marlins starter Pablo Lopez. It’s been a remarkable run for one of baseball’s more decorated hitters.
Freeman has seen 133 pitches since his last whiff. He’s swung at 33.1% of those pitches (44 of 133). Freeman’s run is the longest such streak for any Braves player in at least the past five years.
“That speaks to the special, elite player he is,” manager Brian Snitker said.
Per the Braves: Outfielder Nick Markakis had each of the franchise’s four previous longer streaks over that span. Markakis, famous for his approach, had whiff-less runs of 116, 111, 107 and 105 pitches between 2018-19.
Only three players have had longer such streaks this season: The White Sox’s Nick Madrigal (190), San Diego’s Jake Cronenworth (158) and the Angels’ David Fletcher (143).
Freeman’s overall body of work: He’s raised his average to .291, eighth highest in the National League, and has 22 home runs and 56 RBIs. Since May 8, when Freeman snapped a five-game hitless streak, he’s slashing .336/.428/.568 over 64 games. In the past month, he’s hit .440 with a 1.222 OPS.
“He’s an amazing baseball player,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “I think we all knew this was coming. You saw the balls he was hitting that were getting caught. The luck really wasn’t in his favor. I’m not the biggest stat guy, but at some point his batting average on balls in play was like .230. That’s incredibly unlucky. It doesn’t matter how hard or soft you’re hitting it. That is unlucky when it’s that severe.
“It was bound to happen at some point. I feel like teams are catching the wrath now. It comes in waves, and right now it’s a flood. Very thankful he’s on our team.”
