The Los Angeles Dodgers have a lot of star power in their lineup, but none have shined as bright as Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez recently.
On Tuesday against the Washington Nationals, Freeman went 4-for-5 with a home run, which extended his hitting streak to 19 games. The 33-year-old superstar enters the series finale batting .344 on the season with a 1.005 on-base plus slugging percentage.
Freeman is also hitting .390 over his last 30 games.
“Keeping it simple, stubborn to my approach,” Freeman said when asked about his recent hot streak. “Trying to ride it as long as you can. These kind of things don’t usually last this long, so I’ve been trying to hold onto it.
“But yeah, I’ve been ultimately feeling pretty good at the plate. Just trying to keep it simple, not overthink things, trying to take what they give me. I’ve been getting results the last few weeks.”
Martinez also homered in the the Dodgers’ win, which marked his third consecutive game leaving the yard. In his last 10 games, the designated hitter has seven home runs and 18 RBI
“That’s J.D.,” Freeman said. “He’s coming up on 300 homers as well, so he’s been doing it for a long time. He’s got a hit streak going too and been hitting a lot of homers. Glad the Dodgers signed him this past offseason.”
Martinez has built a reputation as a hitter who consistently works on his craft, which led to a breakout season in 2014 and consistent, high-level production over the past decade.
“He hits a lot, looks at iPads a lot and takes his craft very seriously,” Freeman said. “It’s like I’m stubborn to my approach, he’s stubborn to his. It’s fun to watch someone who is so into trying to perfect his craft. He’ll be the first one to tell you at the beginning of his career he was trying to figure things out, and he figured it out.
“He’s keeping it as long as he can and he’s looked great at the plate ever since he came off the IL. Big plus for us.”
While Martinez and Freeman have different approaches at the plate and how they prepare, they have each found a lot of success in their careers, which has made them two of the most-feared offensive players in baseball.
“It just shows that there’s so many different ways for success in this game,” Freeman said. “When you’re a young guy and come into this game, you have a lot of different voices telling you what they think you should be doing.
“It’s nice to have some older guys that do it completely different, have success, that are stubborn to what they’re doing and they don’t deviate. It shows it’s OK to have your own thing, but just make sure you stick to it.”
Freddie Freeman: Dodgers lineup depth a strength
Along with Freeman and Martinez, the Dodgers lineup also features Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Max Muncy at the top of their order, and two talented rookies in Miguel Vargas and James Outman taking on full-time rules this year.
Their lineup may not be as deep as it was last year, but it’s still proving to be a strength of the team.
“I mean, when you’ve got Mookie getting a couple hits at the top, got Max (Muncy) behind me, J.D. (Martinez) and also Jason’s game today, it just keeps going down the lineup,” Freeman said. “Different kind of hitters in our lineup that can beat you different ways.
“When you’ve got a few guys clicking at the right time this is usually what happens.”
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