Two weeks ago, the Mets paid Freddie Freeman the ultimate compliment, acknowledging that he’s taking his game to the next level and becoming an elite bat in the Braves lineup. They walked him six times in four games after his walk-off home run beat them in the series opener.
Freeman didn’t like it, though, and acknowledges that he was frustrated by it. Freeman went through an 0-for-16 stretch coming out of that series, including 0-for-12 in three games in Milwaukee.
“I didn’t like that because I’m a very aggressive hitter,” Freeman said. “I would see something close, and I would try to do too much with it. When there was no one on, I was trying to drive myself in, trying to hit a home run, and that’s not me obviously. I just had to get back to the basics.”
After a conversation with hitting coach Greg Walker and catching his breath during an off day in Kansas City, Freeman got back to his old approach of hitting balls where they’re pitched, up the middle and the other way. He entered this week’s Marlins series on a five-game hitting streak, during which he was 6-for-17 with a double, five RBIs, and home runs in back-to-back games against Arizona.
“I relaxed and got back going up through the middle again,” Freeman said. “I’m young. I’ve got to learn, and that was one of the learning points. … I never realized what that was like, and it happened. Now I can put that in the memory bank.”
Having Brian McCann heat up in the fifth spot behind him has helped Freeman’s cause. In the two games Freeman homered, McCann was 4-for-7, with a home run of his own.
Freeman looks forward to more of the same when the Braves travel to New York on July 22-25.
“It’s going to be (interesting) to see what they do when we’ve got the whole lineup rested and hitting,” Freeman said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Upton drops: Justin Upton has slipped from second to third place among National League outfielders in the All-Star voting, released Tuesday. The top three vote-getters will start the game July 16 at Citi Field in New York, and for Upton it would be his first start in his third All-Star appearance.
Voting continues until 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Teams will be announced at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on Fox.
Upton led NL outfielders in voting when vote totals were first released in early June — on the strength of his major league-leading 12 home runs in April. He hit only .218 (41-for-188) with three home runs and 18 RBIs in May and June, with 59 strikeouts.
He gradually lost momentum in the vote as his production tailed off. He fell to second behind Carlos Beltran in the previous tally, and after Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez passed him in Tuesday’s tally, Upton is only 15,266 votes ahead of the Nationals’ Bryce Harper.
Beltran leads all NL outfielders with 5,013,806 votes, Gonzalez is second with 2,928,606, Upton is third with 2,917,659 and Harper is fourth with 2,902,393.
Freeman is fifth among first basemen, Chris Johnson is fourth among third baseman, Andrelton Simmons is fifth among shortstops, and McCann is fifth among catchers.
Injury updates: Despite continued problems pushing off on his sore ankle while running and swinging during batting practice, Jordan Schafer appeared as a pinch-hitter against the Marlins and legged out an infield hit to drive in a run in the Braves' four-run sixth inning.
Evan Gattis still hasn’t been cleared to begin baseball activities and won’t play this series, though he has seen some improvement with his strained right oblique. He’s eligible to come off the disabled list Wednesday, but won’t be ready. The Braves have no timetable for his return and will take it slowly when he does start swinging a bat again to avoid setbacks.
“It’s really small increments before you let him go out and take (batting practice), especially with an oblique,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “You don’t want a twist and go back to Day 1. You can’t afford a setback with obliques.”
Brandon Beachy plans to throw an extended side session Wednesday or Thursday. Gonzalez said Beachy will need a bullpen session or two before the Braves decide when and where to send him on a minor league rehabilitation assignment.
Reliever Cristhian Martinez is continuing to be bothered by soreness in his right shoulder. Martinez, who has been on the disabled list since April 11, came to Atlanta to have his shoulder examined by team doctors Tuesday. He had made three appearances on a minor league rehabilitation assignment, including two in Double-A Mississippi, giving up two runs in two innings.
TV change: ESPN has picked up the Braves-Cardinals game July 28 for "Sunday Night Baseball" and moved the start time from 1:35 p.m. to 8:05 p.m.
