It happened: Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman became Braves third baseman Freddie Freeman on Independence Day.
Freeman surprisingly was activated from the DL weeks ahead of schedule. He missed 44 games with a broken wrist.
In a decision that prompted debate across Atlanta, Freeman voluntarily moved to third base to keep first baseman Matt Adams’ bat in the lineup. The move initially was met with doubt, but came to fruition Tuesday.
“This is probably the only thing in my career I’ve had to learn on the fly,” he said.
Freeman played only nine innings at third in Gwinnett and had one fielding opportunity. He didn’t see much action his way Tuesday, converting a couple of simple outs. A pair of hard-hit balls eluded his grasp.
“I felt like I was in the right position on every single one,” Freeman said after the game. “I was always looking at ‘Wash’ (third-base coach Ron Washington), and he would always say I was in the right spot. … I felt like I was in good position and had a good first step. I felt pretty good over there.”
Freeman didn’t think the experience was much different from his brief time with Gwinnett.
“There wasn’t much difference. I mean, obviously, you know playing a whole new position in the big leagues is probably the biggest difference there is. But I felt good over there. My wrist feels good. So other than that, there wasn’t too much of a difference.”
Freeman fielded a ground ball and threw out Astros third baseman Alex Bregman in the second inning. He said after the game he was just happy to have the first out over with.
He’s getting more comfortable in the field and expects continued improvement with time.
“That mental hurdle (passed) over on Saturday,” Freeman said. “I fielded my first ground ball here yesterday. Pretty much the defense part of the hurdle kind of went away, too. But pretty much, right now I’m just hoping to get my timing back as quickly as possible.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker said the Astros presented a unique challenge for Freeman with how hard they hit the ball.
“It’s hard,” he said. “They don’t appear to me to be a team that’s going to try to drop bunts down with the way they’re swinging. … They hit balls hard.”
Until further notice, get used to seeing “3B” in front of Freeman’s name in the lineup. With the Braves nine games back in the NL East and seven games out of a wild-card spot, they’ll hope the Freeman-Adams combination quickly proves lethal enough to warrant this transition.
