Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman returned to the lineup on Saturday, two days after wife Chelsea gave birth to their first child. Or at least his body was back to baseball.
“I don’t know if I was really back out here yesterday,” Freeman said before the series finale against the Nationals on Sunday. “I could hardly keep my eyes open.”
In a post to her Instagram page, Chelsea Freeman reported that she was in labor for more than 24 hours before undergoing an emergency C-section. She gave birth to a healthy boy, Frederick Charles Freeman II.
“She did great,” Freeman said. “She was unbelievable. It was a long night and a long day but it was all worth it in the end.”
Freeman rushed from Turner Field to the hospital when he got word that Chelsea was going into labor. He said after being excited and nervous throughout her pregnancy, “a lot of emotions came in” when he got the call.
Freeman said he watched the Braves’ 7-2 loss to the Nationals on television from the hospital Friday night. He went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts on Saturday as the Braves beat the Nationals 7-3.
“It was nice to get out here yesterday and get moving around,” Freeman said. “Body hurt a little bit but nothing compared to what my wife went through, so I feel pretty good. It’s good to get back in the swing of things. It felt kind of weird to get back in the box yesterday so hopefully today is a little bit better.”
