MIAMI – When Freddie Freeman signed an eight-year, $135 million contract extension with the Braves in February 2014, the then-24-year-old first baseman had no inkling of the rebuilding project the franchise would embark upon eight months later, a tear-it-down job that led to three consecutive seasons with 90 or more losses.
And he obviously couldn’t have known about the hand and wrist injuries he would sustain in 2015 and 2017, limiting Freeman to fewer than 120 games each of those seasons, particularly galling for a guy who prides himself on staying in the lineup every inning, every game.
With all that context in mind, imagine how pleased Freeman is these days. He’s playing for a first-place Braves team that is one of baseball’s biggest early surprises, and he’s raking as usual but doesn’t have to carry all of the offensive load the way he did in recent years.
Freeman had a career-high five hits Thursday night, a 5-for-5 game that included a two-run homer and raised his batting average from .301 to .326. But he wasn’t even the offensive star of the night for the Braves, who got a grand slam and five RBIs from dynamic second baseman Ozzie Albies in a 9-2 rout of the Marlins.
“That was fun,” Freeman said after the Braves recorded their eighth consecutive road win, their longest road winning streak since a 10-gamer in September 2009. “Obviously the last two games haven’t been what I wanted, but it was nice to come out and get some hits.”
Freeman was 1-for-6 with one RBI in the two-game sweep at Tampa Bay to start the trip, but the Braves still won those games, getting a homer from 20-year-old phenom Ronald Acuna in a 1-0 win Tuesday, and winning 5-2 Wednesday behind six scoreless innings from Julio Teheran and a three-run homer from resurgent veteran Nick Markakis.
They are in first place in the National League East with a 22-14 record that includes a 14-7 mark on the road; they’ve played the third-most road games in the majors. The Braves have the highest-scoring offense in the National League and it was on display again Thursday, when they scored seven runs – all with two outs – in the sixth inning on their way to finishing with eight or more runs for the ninth time already this season.
“It’s fun coming to the yard,” Freeman said, comparing the present to the past few years. “Obviously all you guys have been here (and know), it’s been tough. But knowing every single day when you come to the yard you have a chance to win, that’s what it’s all about. That’s what you play the game for.
“This group of guys in here, we’re going to be right there at the end. It’s fun. A lot of young, exciting guys. Someone does something every night that you kind of just look around and go, wow. It’s fun. It’s fun right now.”
Freeman has hit .366 (26-for-71) with five homers, 15 RBIs and a 1.050 OPS in his past 17 games, and Thursday was his 14th multi-hit game of the season.
“Walt (Weiss, bench coach) was saying it today, ‘Freddie is fixing to get hot,’ ” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s what the guy’s capable of. He does that and it’s not like it’s anything (surprising), you don’t even say ‘wow’ anymore when he does that, because it’s just him.”
Freeman has hit .326 with six homers and a .558 slugging percentage, and he ranks among league leaders in RBIs (28) and on-base percentage (.424). But he’s been overshadowed plenty of nights this season by other hitters on his team – the first time that’s happened in recent years.
And Freeman loves it. Because it means that the Braves are getting good again, that they’re not leaning so heavily on their first baseman, who’s established himself as one of the game’s truly elite all-around hitters but hasn’t had enough support to get the Braves to the postseason for far too long.
Now he just might.
Acuna is one of the most exciting prospects in baseball in many years and has met or surpassed all expectations since his arrival three weeks ago, and Albies is playing like an All-Star or even an MVP candidate, batting .285 with a league-leading 25 extra-base hits including 11 homers. He’s slugging .589 and has a team-high 29 RBIs, one more than Freeman and Markakis, who’s having one of his best seasons at 34.
Albies has been batting leadoff for the past week and a half, after batting second prior to that. The top half of the Braves’ lineup is as explosive as any in the league, and Freeman said nothing that the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Albies does surprises him anymore.
“He’s the one that won us the game tonight,” Freeman said of Albies’ slam. “That’s huge. (Marlins starter Caleb) Smith’s a guy you haven’t faced before, he was getting in a groove. Once we were able to get him out of there (in the sixth inning) things kind of took off again for us. But Ozzie. ... Him and Ronald, it seems like every single night they do something that just wows you.”
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