Braves All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman spoke with local media at Saturday's Chop Fest, his first time speaking with the media since the conclusion of the Braves' postseason run.
Here are some of the topics Freeman covered:
Q: How's the elbow (Freeman had surgery this offseason)?
A: The elbow's great. It's been a long offseason, still doing rehab every day. But it's more of a maintenance thing. I've been full-bore since about mid-December. I've been hitting, throwing, doing everything with no pain. First time in nine years I haven't had pain in the offseason. … Everything is good. I feel great. I'm ready to go.
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» Ronald Acuna
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Q: How different is life not having to deal with it?
A: It got a little tough in the end. I didn't know why I was hurting so much every day, usually spurs is going in and out of pain. Around my birthday (Sept. 12), it started hurting every single day. I wasn't sleeping at night because I thought I was sleeping wrong, and that's why I'd wake up and it hurt. It got a little tough at the end but life is a lot better now. I can sleep peacefully now.
Q: Can you pinpoint a moment in the last season that (it grew substantially worse)?
A: We knew what was going on in August, actually. I woke up one day and all of a sudden, for like the third time that year, I had pain in my elbow again. So we finally got it X-rayed and come to find out, there's a huge hook you could see in the X-ray. At least we knew what it was. It was just a spur, those happen in and out, but around my birthday in Philadelphia — actually I woke up on my birthday and it hurt to wash, shampoo my hair. I was feeling pretty good those first three games. I was hitting well. Then I woke up and said I'd be fine tomorrow, went to D.C. It never went away unfortunately. I tried to gut it out and did the best I could. Everything feels good now, but around my birthday it was every single day.
Q: Multiple bone spurs and fragments?
A: So, I went and had an MRI in August as well to see what it was. The MRI showed one spur and two loose fragments in there. When I went in for surgery and came out, there were two spurs, three fragments, and I had no room in my joint. It was completely closed. Doc said, 'I don't know how you played with this.' And I said, 'Well Doc, I didn't play very well.' He said I probably wasn't going to make it through (the postseason) even if we won Game 5 because that second spur was about to crack and break off. Come to find out, that's why my elbow was hurt every day. Because it was broken. That's what we found out. It was a lot worse than we originally thought. Doc said he'd never seen any spur in that spot, the second one. I said, 'Well, you can just call it a hitting spur because that's what happens when you pitch and hit for 25 straight years.' Things are going to go wrong in your elbow. I'm sure every single one of us playing baseball has it. But it got to the point I couldn't do it anymore, and surgery was the best option. I'm glad I did it because I feel great.
The hunger is real. Winning back-to-back division titles and seeing your division opponent win the World Series last year. It's our turn. We have a really, really good team again. So it's our time.
Q: What have you thought of the team’s offseason moves?
A: It's been great. He (general manager Alex Anthopoulos) went out fast again, just like he did last offseason, and got who he wanted, who he thought we needed. You look at the bullpen now, you've got Luke Jackson coming in in the sixth inning. That's pretty good. He's throwing 96, 97 with that slider. You feel comfortable getting Cole Hamels. I think Max Fried is going to be pretty phenomenal this year, even better than he was last year. Mike Soroka we know. (Mike Foltynewicz) is going to be 2018 Folty. And then we have a lot of young studs. This is a good team. A really, really good team that has a chance to win this thing.
Q: What do you think of the third base situation?
A: I like it. Johan (Camargo) and Austin (Riley), we'll see. Johan looks great. He told me he lost 15 pounds, he looks good, 207. I saw him running on the sand so he must be faster — we'll see about that. But Johan, 2018, I mean, he was great. .280-18-70, I don't know what else you can ask for. It's a tough position he got put in last year. He handled it with class. Obviously he wants to win that job back. He looks great. Austin, we all saw what he can do. I think it's going to be fun, interesting to see what happens in spring. But no matter who's playing there, we'll be just fine.
