Atlanta Braves: What Makes Freddie Freeman Great – Fan Opinions and Stats

Atlanta Braves Freddie Freeman is coming off of an MVP 2020 season, so now is the perfect time to ask the question: What makes Freddie Freeman so great?

If you are an Atlanta Braves fan you probably have a quick answer as to why Freddie Freeman is the best. In fact, your opinion may differ from the next person’s and they may both be correct.

I recently asked my people, my brethren, my family of Braves’ fans in the Tomahawk Talk Facebook group to provide me their logic behind Freddie’s greatness.

Before you continue, this is more than a few random opinions (albeit, from one of the smartest Braves’ groups on the internet):  we are going to check some of the numbers behind these assertions.

This is a case of the eye test being backed up by the metrics. Let’s dive into the deep pool that is Freddie Freeman’s greatness… Everybody take off their clothes!

Do the numbers tell us what we think we already know about Freddie Freeman?

Benjamin Irl Rosenfelder: “He sprays the ball all over the field while still having a ton of power.”

Last season Freddie sent 29.4% of his batted balls to the opposite field and 33.3% up the middle. The top ten pull percentages in the league ranged from 54.5%-59% whereas Freeman only pulled 37.3% of his batted balls. Good call Benjamin!

Denny Whitehurst: “Freddie tries to hit the ball hard, every at-bat, doesn’t give strikes away, and hits the ball where it’s pitched.”

Freddie was 19th in all of baseball in hard-hit percentage last year while finishing in the 91st percentile in exit velocity. He hits the ball hard and he does it consistently.

Scott Crego: “His winning smile!”

Chad N Kathy: “He sees the ball very well and rarely swings at bad pitches. He’s obviously born with talent and built with long arms and legs that help him reach certain pitches and this is also how he generates so much power.”

“Finally, he got to play with one of the Braves’ greatest hitters of all time, Chipper Jones. I’m sure his advice and coaching helped not to mention Freddie just getting to see him every day. Just my two cents.”

Thanks for your two cents, Chad N Kathy! Freeman is a heatseeker at the plate. He can handle breaking balls and offspeed pitches but he hit .431 against fastballs last season with a .813 SLG and only whiffed on 14.3% of the heaters he swung at.

I’m sure having one of the greatest switch-hitters in the history of the game as a mentor didn’t hurt his development!

Gary Purvis: “He uses his tongue after hitting the ball to guide it where he wants it, it’s like a lab or a beavertail.”

This is an astute observation, Gary. Obviously, this was Michael Jordan’s secret weapon, as well. I will be teaching my children about this strategy today! Thanks, Gary!

The MusicMan Grant: “He has laser beam eyes.”

Freddie is one of the best laser beam hitters in the game. Line drives have the absolute highest BABIP. It’s somewhere between .600-.700 and Freddie is a leader in line drives every single season. Thanks, MusicMan!

D.J. Dunfee
“I’ll get downvoted to hell but Freddie freeman is overrated as hell. Dude is basically a slap hitter and doesn’t do s*** to help win ballgames. He can sure joke around with the runner on first tho”

A slap hitter with a 92.4 mph exit velocity and a .620 slugging percentage last season. 

Steven Teal: “He stays inside the ball.”

Freddie Freeman is far too large to fit inside of a baseball, silly…

As you can see, these statistics generally support what astute fans observe with their own eyeballs. Tomahawk Talk is a group of (mostly) intelligent Braves fans and they know Freddie Freeman is a special player. Now, someone tell Alex Anthoupolus and let’s pay the man.