When his best pal Jason Heyward left the Arizona Fall League with an injury last month, Freddie Freeman stayed in touch with frequent phone calls back to Atlanta, the Braves' top prospects updating each other and making plans for the future.
Not the long-range future so many envision -- the smooth-fielding Freeman entrenched at first base, strong-armed Heyward owning right field, the duo that hitting coach Terry Pendleton calls "Salt and Pepper" posting a couple hundred RBIs annually.
No, last month the two were talking about the immediate future, as in the first week of December, when Freeman came to visit Heyward at home in suburban Cobb County. The 20-year-old pals and potential future Faces of the Franchise hung out and caught up.
"I know he's not happy that he's not playing, but sometimes you've just got to sit down," Freeman said in Arizona last month, when Heyward played just four games for the Peoria Saguaros before the Braves shut him down with a lower-back strain.
"I learned that this year. I had to sit down, just couldn't play through it anymore," said Freeman, who was slowed by a sore wrist at Class AA Mississippi. The condition sidelined him for the final weeks of the season and also hindered him in the fall league.
"Jason tried to play, but he did what he needed to do and sat down," Freeman said. "No reason to push it right now. He's proven enough."
Heyward was Baseball America's minor league Player of the Year after batting .323 with 17 homers and a .408 on-base percentage in 99 games for three minor league affiliates in 2009.
The Henry County High School graduate had a couple of nagging injuries, but Heyward still excelled so much that he got a late call-up to Class AAA Gwinnett for some postseason experience there.
Freeman and Heyward, roommates in 2008 at Class A Rome, started 2009 at high-A Myrtle Beach and were promoted at midseason. After hitting .302 with 25 extra-base hits (six homers) and a .394 OBP at Myrtle, Freeman was batting over .300 at Mississippi before the left-handed hitter developed tendinitis in his left wrist.
"It was frustrating, just because that's two years in a row where I got hurt at the end of the season," he said. "I just want to finish a whole season."
He kept playing for a few weeks while his numbers plummeted. He ended up with a .248 average and two homers in 149 at-bats at Mississippi. Known as a tireless worker, trying to swing his way out of a slump didn't work.
The 6-foot-5 Californian finished the season with eight homers and 58 RBIs in 404 at-bats, down from 18 homers and 95 RBIs in 2008 at Rome.
When asked last month what he needed to work on most, Freeman said, "Just getting a little bit stronger, so more of those doubles I hit go over the fence. ... But I'm trying to work on everything. Whenever they call on me, I want to be ready for that."
Team officials and scouts who've watched him in batting practice know Freeman still has as much natural power in his smooth swing as anyone in the organization other than Class AA outfielder Cody Johnson.
"Myrtle Beach wasn't the greatest hitters' park," Freeman said of the Pelicans' notoriously pitcher-friendly ballpark. "I kind of changed my swing to be more of a line-drive hitter there and it carried over the whole year. Those balls that I was doubling in the gap, they probably would have been out at Rome."
The tone of questions about Freeman and Heyward has changed some since last spring. Now, Braves officials are not only asked whether Heyward could be in the 2010 opening-day lineup, but whether the Braves might need more than a one-year stopgap first baseman before Freeman's ready.
The unspoken hope is that Freeman will be ready to take over by 2011.
"Freddie's a special kid," Braves general manager Frank Wren said. "Unfortunately he ran into an injury bug this year that really limited him at almost every place he played."
While his offensive totals dipped in 2009, Freeman was rated the best defensive first baseman by managers in both the Carolina and Southern Leagues. And last month, Baseball America rated him the No. 2 prospect in the Braves organization, up three spots from a year ago.
Despite limited playing time in Arizona, he was rated the No. 7 prospect in a prospect-laden fall league. And last week at baseball's Winter Meetings, Braves manager Bobby Cox mentioned the possibility of Freeman at first base in 2010 if other options fell through.
"I know he tailed off at the end, but he is a hitter and he's got really good hands at first base," said Cox, who's had high praise for both Freeman and Heyward since the two excelled in major league spring training last year at age 19.
While it seems highly unlikely that Freeman would start the season with the Braves, it's clear that he's still viewed as their long-range answer at first base for years to come.
"He just needs to shut it down and get healthy [this winter]," Wren said after the fall league season. "I'm sure he and Jason have plans this winter to get together and get prepared."
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