With Freddie Freeman’s offensive struggles going unabated three weeks into the season, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez moved the first baseman from third to sixth in the batting order Monday night against the Boston Red Sox.
It was the first time the two-time former All-Star and franchise cornerstone batted lower than fifth in the batting order since July 1, 2012, when Freeman hit sixth for the fourth and final time that season.
“I talked to him at length today and this morning, and he was OK,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said before batting practice Monday. “He understood. His thing was, put me wherever you think gives us the best chance to win a game.”
In the first of what’s expected to be a brief stint batting sixth, Freeman responded with a 2-for-3 performance that included a line-drive single up the middle in the second inning, a bunt single — the first of his major league career — to beat a defensive shift leading off the fifth, and a walk in the seventh inning of the 1-0 Braves loss.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good for a while now,” Freeman said. “You know, I’ve been swinging the bat pretty good lately. So I like where I’m at, I feel comfortable. Starting to get some balls starting to fall.” He smiled and added, “That’s the first time I ever got a bunt down, hopefully that’ll happen again.”
Gonzalez said after the game, “Today I saw a different Freddie Freeman. I saw a different look in his eye. He had a great BP (batting practice). We talked about it just before the game started, him and I. His last round of BP was about as good as I’ve ever seen him, and it transferred over to the game.”
Freeman hit .177 (11-for-62) in 17 games before Monday with two doubles, one homer, five RBIs and twice as many strikeouts (20) as walks (10). He had a .311 on-base percentage and .258 slugging percentage for a .569 OPS, which ranked 175th out of 194 major leaguers with enough plate appearances to qualify.
He was 4-for-22 with one double, one walk and nine strikeouts in his past five games before Monday’s two-hit outing. His only home run came in the first inning on opening day.
When Gonzalez approached him with plans to move him to sixth in the order, he didn’t protest.
“I’ll go anywhere,” Freeman said. “Just want to win, that’s all I care about. It’s not a big deal to me, but hopefully I can get back to the 3-hole. The only way I can do that is by hitting. Hopefully I can do that here soon.”
Freeman missed 44 games in 2015 and had two stints on the disabled list because of an injury to his right hand and wrist, which occurred in June and flared up again after he returned to action, then lingered into the offseason and prevented him from taking any live batting practice until spring training began.
Since the initial injury on June 13, Freeman had a .221 average (53-for-240) with seven home runs, 58 strikeouts and a .349 OBP and .350 slugging percentage in his past 73 games before Monday. He said last week that he’s been “100 percent” healthy this season and that he was frustrated at not being able to catch up to fastballs for some reason.
Gonzalez didn’t take lightly the decision to move Freeman from the coveted No. 3 position in the order, and said he hoped that a brief stint in the sixth spot might help Freeman relax and have some RBI opportunities without quite as much pressure.
“This is something I thought about yesterday afternoon, last night and this morning,” Gonzalez said before Monday’s game. “He’ll hit third again, I guarantee that. We’re just going to move him down, let him get some at-bats and let him get going. In my opinion when he’s right, he’s one of the premier No. 3 hitters in the league.”
After the game, Gonzalez said, “I think by putting him in that (sixth) spot, it was just have fun, don’t worry about carrying the team. I think we accomplished that today. I haven’t seen him lay a bunt down. He works on it a lot, and finally he was able to do one. I think maybe if he was hitting in the third spot he might not have thought he could do that. But anyway, he’s not a No. 6 hitter, believe me. We’ll get him going and move him back up to the middle of the order where he belongs.”
The Braves’ three hottest hitters of late, Nick Markakis, Daniel Castro and Adonis Garcia, were in the Nos. 1-3 spots, respectively, on Monday against Red Sox right-hander Rick Porcello. Ctcher A.J. Pierzysnki was in the cleanup spot and Jeff Francoeur in left field, batting fifth.
“You’ve got Markakis, Castro and Garcia getting on base, getting hits,” Gonzalez said. “I think between those guys (Sunday) they got eight hits. They’ve been getting on base, and hopefully that creates some opportunities with him, putting him down there.”
Before Monday, Freeman had not batted below the fourth spot since May 12, 2013, when he hit fifth. Freeman’s 2,771 career at-bats before Monday included 1,500 in the No. 3 spot, 530 in the cleanup (No. 4) spot, and 465 in the fifth spot.
