Appreciating Atlanta Braves 1B Freddie Freeman: the historic context

The Atlanta Braves haven’t seen this kind of performance in… ever.

Sure, it’s a short season.  But it isn’t like Freddie Freeman started out this hot, either.  The Atlanta Braves first baseman was slowed initially by his COVID-19 bout that made him into a mere mortal at the plate for a couple of weeks.

You could say that — like The Freeze — he was only giving his competition a head-start.

Since then?  The numbers are continuing to jump off the page.

Let’s start with the basics by comparing his current season with those in the National League over the past 21 seasons (1999 was chosen to bring in Chipper Jones’ MVP year).

In those last 21 seasons, Freeman’s 1.113 OPS number — on-base average plus slugging — now ranks 14th best among every qualified NL batter in every year since 1999.

Even with that lofty ranking, you need to know about some of the asterisks involved:

• Barry Bonds holds the top 4 spots, for reasons we know well.  His 2000 season also ranked 9th
• Sammy Sosa (2001) is 6th.
• Mark McGwire is 10th.

Juan Soto, oddly enough, is 5th due to his breakout year, but the catch with him is the last-place team he’s on.  Meanwhile…

• 4 “pre-humidor” Rockies are in the Top 20 (Larry Walker and Todd Helton — twice each).
• Albert Pujols ranks 13th, 17th, 18th, and 19th.
• Recent MVPs Bryce Harper (2015) and Christian Yelich (2019) rank below Freeman’s OPS:  16th and 20th, respectively.
• Chipper Jones‘ 1999 season, as great as it was, ranks “only” as the 26th-best OPS season between then and now.

In fact, let’s look at Braves’ players specifically and see how Freeman is doing among them.

Brace yourself for this one:  if Freeman can maintain this level of performance at 1.113, it would rank as the #1 season for OPS among all qualified Braves players in the history of the franchise.  That’s from 1871 to the present day.

• Hank Aaron’s best was 1.079.
• Chipper Jones hit 1.074… twice.
• Rico Carty and Aaron both had 1.037 seasons.  Jones had a 1.032 and 1.029.
• Gary Sheffield?  1.023.  Eddie Mathews peaked at 1.014, Fred McGriff 1.012, and J.D. Drew 1.006.
• Even 2-time MVP Dale Murphy never cracked 1.000 for a full season.

We’ve seen great spurts this season from Ronald Acuna Jr (.962) , Marcel Ozuna (.992), and Adam Duvall (.906).  Statistically speaking, they are still well behind Freddie Freeman.

That’s the difference between sustained greatness and the occasional outburst:  Freeman has been a consistent force that never seems to take off focus for even one plate appearance, and that’s why he’s surpassed all of his teammates.

He’s not just having a career year… he’s having an historic year.

Sure:  it’s a short season and were this a full 162 games, we might be talking about an injury, a Summer fade, or things of that sort that cause even the best players to wane with the bat as the PA’s approach 600.

But it’s not a long campaign this year, and that may play well for the Atlanta Braves into October — which is exactly what we need to see happen.

Regardless:  appreciate what you’re seeing from Freddie Freeman… it doesn’t happen very often.