Atlanta Braves: Time to talk about Freddie Freeman’s MVP chances
By Nick Stevens
Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman has a legitimate case to win the National League MVP Award.
Ask anyone who isn’t an Atlanta Braves fan who the 2020 National League MVP will be and you will likely get one of two answers: San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.or Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.
You may also get a few votes for starting pitchers Yu Darvish or Jacob deGrom, but it’s hard to pick against the budding megastar that is Tatis or the NL’s newest star in Betts.
MLB’s official Twitter account put out a graphic on Friday with five potential names that also included Mike Yastrzemski, Ian Happ, and Trea Turner.
More Braves. Acuna eyeing Rickey Henderson's record. light
What about Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman? One of the game’s most reliable hitters and quite possibly most underrated player isn’t getting a lot of love from the national media when it comes to a potential MVP award, but that narrative needs to change over these final two-plus weeks of the regular season.
To be fair, it is easy to overlook Freddie Freeman, only because he’s one of the few players in baseball who you know you can count on.
Since 2013, his third full season in the majors, Freeman has recorded a wRC+ of 132 or higher in each season and been worth at least 4.0 Wins Above Replacement in all but one of those seasons.
He’s also someone who isn’t very well acquainted with sitting on the bench. Freeman has played in at least 150 games in five of his nine big league seasons, with his 117 appearances in 2017 being a career-low.
Freeman isn’t posting the power numbers you typically see out of a potential MVP, but he ranks at or near the top of just about every offensive statistic there is.
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Entering play on September 12th, here’s a look at Freeman’s offensive numbers with his current NL rank in parentheses.
- Batting average- .333 (4th)
- On-base percentage- .450 (2nd)
- OPS- 1.084 (1st)
- Home runs- 10 (14th)
- Doubles- 15 (2nd)
- RBI- 42 (1st)
- BB%- 16.4% (4th)
- wOBA- .448 (1st)
- wRC+- 179 (1st)
- fWAR- 2.1 (5th)
Even for Freddie Freeman, this is a pretty remarkable season and one that deserves much more credit than he’s getting.
To overcome Tatis and his electric play this season and Betts playing very well on the league’s top team, Freeman will have to finish the season on an offensive tear. Luckily for him, the schedule just might allow it.
The Atlanta Braves will finish their series against the Washington Nationals this weekend before ending the year with games against the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Miami Marlins, and Boston Red Sox. None of these pitching staffs will pose much of a threat and should not only help Freeman continue to pile up the offensive numbers but help the Braves fight off the Chicago Cubs for the two seed in the 2020 MLB playoffs.
Next. 2020 MLB playoffs and .500 teams. dark
There’s a legitimate case to be made for Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman to win his first MVP Award and it’s time the national media take notice.