ST. LOUIS—In his first at-bat since returning from the disabled list on Saturday, Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman flied out to deep left field.
Not bad for a hitter who hadn’t seen big-league pitching in more than five weeks, played just one rehabilitation game in the minors and was facing hard-throwing Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez.
It could be a sign that it won’t take long for Freeman to find his groove now that his right wrist has healed.
“I think so,” Freeman said Sunday. “I even felt pretty good yesterday. First pitch change-up, I saw it out of his hand. Then he threw me a 97 mph heater and I was just a tick behind but it still felt like a good swing. I think I’m closer than I thought I was going to be, so hopefully with one ‘AB’ I will be locked in today somehow.”
Freeman laughed when he said that last part, but the Braves seriously need their two-time All-Star to get back to form as soon as possible.
Freeman missed 30 games but still leads the team in home runs (12), and he’s the team leader by a wide margin in on-base plus slugging (.884). Freeman’s absence had a domino effect down the lineup because he’s the Braves’ only consistent power threat. He had some protection in the lineup between plus hitters Cameron Maybin and Nick Markakis.
Without Freeman the Braves’ runs per game dipped to 2.8 after they’d scored 4.0 runs per game in 76 games with him in the lineup before Saturday. All of that decline can’t be attributed to Freeman’s absence but it clearly was a big reason for the slippage.
“We’ve got our anchor back in our lineup, one of our guys,” Braves second baseman Jace Peterson said. “He’s the best hitter on the team. He does what he does and we couldn’t be more happy to have him back.”
The Braves lost some significant offensive punch when they traded Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe to the Mets on Friday for two pitching prospects. For Sunday’s game manager Fredi Gonzalez hit Freeman fourth behind Maybin and Markakis, with call-up Adonis Garcia batting fifth.
Gonzalez said he planned to watch Freeman closely to make sure he doesn’t try to do too much, too soon. Freeman said it won’t take long for him to get readjusted to big-league pitching.
“As long as I’m healthy, I will get the timing down,” Freeman said. “That should come quickly, hopefully.”
