Freddie Freeman, the guy who led the major leagues in batting average with runners in scoring position in 2015, went 0-for-3 each of the past two nights in those situations to drop his RISP average to a team-worst .125.
The Braves first baseman is mired in a 1-for-26 skid with runners in scoring position, part of an overall slump that’s seen him hit just .186 (11-for-59) with a .241 OBP in his past 14 games, with his only two homers in that span – as well as four of his five RBIs — coming in one game Friday at Philadelphia.
“I guess it’s back down into a valley,” Freeman said before Thursday’s game, describing what has been a maddeningly streaky early season for the Braves’ best hitter. “That’s just the way this season’s going. I feel good up there, just nothing’s working, nothing’s falling. I had a good three-week stretch there, now I’m back down for some reason.
“I feel good, I’m not doing anything different. There’s nothing I can really do but keep going out there and swinging.”
Before this 14-game slump, he hit .422 with nine extra-base hits (five homers) in his previous 12 games. He started the season 2-for-25 with one extra-base hit (and nine walks) in the first eight games.
Freeman has hit .254 with eight homers but only 15 RBIs in 45 games, with a .342 OBP and .439 slugging percentage.
“Right now I suck, there’s no getting around it,” said Freeman, whose average, OBP and slugging percentage before Friday were well below his career marks of .285/.366/.466 entering this season. He said health has not been an issue at all this season, unlike last year when he missed 44 games and had two DL stints for hand-wrist injuries.
“I feel great,” he said. “I’ve had a pretty horrible season so far. There’s not sugarcoating it, I’m just not getting hits. The hits I do get are obviously not with guys in scoring position, but obviously that needs to change. If it doesn’t happen soon…. I’m already getting frustrated. Usually my track record’s pretty good with guys on base.”
Until this season, Freeman had been among the best in baseball with runners in scoring position. A year ago in an injury-plagued season, he still led the majors with a .376 average (35-for-93) in those situations, and in 2013 he hit an otherworldly .443 (58-for-131) with runners in scoring position.
“Obviously the first 40 games haven’t turned out the way I wanted them to,” he said. “Hopefully the next 120 I’ll start getting some hits with runners in scoring position. I’d rather be 1-for-4 with two RBIs than 3-for-4 and get out with a guy in scoring position…. I feel good, I’m the same, my batting practice is great, everything’s great. I’m just not getting hits.”
He laughed. “Hopefully talking about it with you it will turn my luck around. But I feel good. I can’t put a finger on it.”
Freeman began this season with a .311 average in 640 career at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“Usually I can get the job done with guys in scoring position,” he said, “but for some reason the first quarter of this season it’s just not going the right way. Luckily we’ve got a long ways to go and hopefully I’ll start getting hits every game.”
