Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman is part of several exclusive groups in franchise history. He joined another one Saturday night.
Freeman hit a two-run homer off Milwaukee’s Brett Anderson in the second inning. It was Freeman’s 250th career home run, making him the sixth player in Braves history to achieve such feat. The homer helped the Braves defeat the Brewers, 5-1.
“I was in the dugout and they asked if they could take my bat away (after the homer),” Freeman said. “I said, ‘No. I’m keeping that bat.’ And they said, ‘It’s 250.’ And I said, ‘That’s alright. I still want to use it.’ They were going to try to make me take my bat away and I didn’t want to. But 250 is a lot. I’ve been told there are some nice names I joined with that in the Braves organization, so I’ll take it all in. But I’m just happy we won.”
The illustrious company Freeman referenced: Hank Aaron (733 homers in a Braves uniform), Eddie Mathews (493), Chipper Jones (468), Dale Murphy (371) and Andruw Jones (368). Freeman’s 250 homers also rank 13th among active players.
Saturday’s blast was Freeman’s 10th of the season. Freeman is tied with Chicago’s Kris Bryant for the second-highest total in the National League, trailing only his teammate Ronald Acuna and Seattle’s Mitch Haniger, who each have 12 home runs.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Much has been made of Freeman’s underwhelming offensive performance, though the power and walks have certainly still been there. Freeman said he feels he’s trending in the right direction. He has a hit in six of his past seven games, including three homers.
“I feel like I’ve hit the ball hard all year, too,” Freeman said. “That’s the crazy thing. I don’t know if I’d say I’m struggling, but I’m grinding. I’ve been grinding mentally trying to figure out why there’s one big glove out on the field for the first six weeks. ... I’ve been feeling much better the last five, six games.”
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