Nothing was broken or dislocated, no ligaments torn, so Braves manager Brian Snitker pretty much knew that Freddie Freeman would be ready to play Thursday. And he was.
Freeman was back in the lineup for Thursday night’s series opener against the Brewers, a day after he was hit in the right triceps by a CC Sabathia fastball in the third inning of a game at Yankee Stadium.
He left that series finale an inning later when the arm stiffened, and he couldn’t swing a bat.
A day later, after much icing and several rounds of electric-stimulus treatment during the final innings at New York and in his Milwaukee hotel room overnight, Freeman tested his arm in the Miller Park batting cage and told Snitker he was ready to play.
“I can get (the bat) to my shoulder, so I’m good,” Freeman said. “Good enough.”
Freeman, 28, has started every game this season and was the National League leader in All-Star votes when the final overall fan-voting update was announced this week.
“I’m sure he’s sore, but I didn’t figure it was going to keep him from playing,” Snitker said after penciling him in the lineup for the 86th time this season. “I saw him on the elevator last night (at the team hotel) when we flew in and he said, ‘If I can swing, there’s no way I’m not playing.’ I don’t know, it was probably good that we took him out and he got a jump-start on getting some treatment during the game. That actually worked out pretty good.”
Freeman has slumped for the past 2-1/2 weeks, going 10-for-62 (.161) with one home run, 20 strikeouts and a .504 OPS in 15 games before Thursday. Before the slump began he was batting a league-best .342 on June 17.
He still carried a .308 average into the series opener at Milwaukee and ranked second in the NL in on-base percentage (.399), third in OPS (.929), fourth in hits (101), sixth in slugging percentage (.530) and tied for 12th in home runs (16). And his recent offensive malaise had not affected his outstanding defensive work.
Some players believe the best way to end a slump is not to watch a game or two from the bench, but to hit their way out of it. Freeman is one of them. That, plus he just doesn’t want to sit unless he absolutely must.
Freeman missed 44 games last season with a fractured left wrist after being hit by a pitch, and missed 42 games with a right-wrist injury in 2015. He said this year upon reporting to spring training that he intended to play every game this season if at all possible.
“Some guys need a mental break,” Snitker said. “I don’t know, there’s probably times he does, too. But to me the best thing to do is just keep playing and get yourself going. I mean, the only way you’re going to get out of it is like you say – I feel the same way – is to hit your way out of it.”
Freeman was 5-for-11 with two homers and three walks in his career against Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin before facing the right-hander Thursday night.
Freeman and 34-year-old Braves right fielder Nick Markakis are the only pair of teammates on any major league team to have started every game this season.
Freeman and Markakis, having a resurgent season, also had the two highest NL All-Star vote totals as of Monday. It would be the first All-Star appearance in Markakis’ 13-year career and the third in Freeman’s nine seasons.
“Yeah, I had no doubt in spring training that that was going to happen,” Snitker said of Freeman insisting on playing every game this season if physically able to. “He missed games last year; what did he miss, 50-some games last year? There was no way he was going to miss any this year if he can help it.”
About the Author
