Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman entered Tuesday’s game against the Nationals with four hits in his past seven at-bats to break out of a slump but, the way he sees it, he started to feel better about swings hitting even before the hits started falling.
Freeman said he’s felt more comfortable at the plate over the past three games, starting with the second game of the series at Philadelphia on Saturday.
“What that means for me, get pitches out over and not swing at balls (out of the strike zone) and be able to hit the ball to authority to left field,” said Freeman, who bats lefty. “Even though the second game in Philly I went 0-for-4, I was hitting the ball hard to left field. I flew out a couple times deep to left field and that’s a good sign. Then the last game in Philly I had a couple doubles to left field.”
Freeman entered Tuesday hitting .254 with five doubles and four home runs for a .493 slugging percentage. Included among his outs are several line drives that didn’t fall and booming shots that died before clearing the wall.
Freeman had two singles in three at-bats during the Braves’ 8-4 victory against the Nationals on Tuesday before he was ejected by third-base umpire John Hirschbeck. Both hits were pulled to right field but Freeman said they were good results because they were on off-speed pitches that he got out in front of but he was still able to swing through the strike zone.
Freeman said he doesn’t try to hit home runs in batting practice and instead focuses on driving balls to left field and through the middle of the field.
“For me, feeling good is line drives to left field,” he said.
Before getting two hits on Sunday and Monday, Freeman had just one hit in his previous five games. But he said he doesn’t change his routine when he’s slumping: batting cage before batting practice, line drives during BP, and then another session in the cage before the game.
“I stick to what got me here and what I know best,” he said. “That’s the same routine. I’m not going to vary it. In the past my success has come with sticking to one plan. That usually works. Obviously it’s going to falter and I’m going to go into slumps here and there but stick with the plan and hopefully it will come out successful more times than not.”
