Freddie Freeman has had a rollercoaster of a season in 2024 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but all in all, it’s been another great offensive performance for the veteran slugger.
Through 134 games, Freeman is batting .282/.380/.481 with 31 doubles, two triples, 21 home runs, 83 RBI, 75 runs scored and a 139 wRC+.
The 2021 National League MVP’s numbers have dropped from recent years, but he is still putting up numbers that put him near the top of the league.
Freeman had a slow start and that led to questions about if the 34-year-old is declining with age, but he expressed confidence he would turn in around.
Freeman doesn’t want age to become an issue for him anytime soon, and he’s working to try to fight off any decline due to it, via Dylan Hernández of the L.A. Times:
“If I’m going to do the same thing I did at 25 and expect the same thing, that’s just not smart.”
“I’m just trying to figure out how we can keep this going,” he said.
One adjustment Freeman has made is adding medicine-ball and resistance-band exercises to his pregame workouts. He is also participating in more defensive drills with Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel.
It took Freeman a bit to find his swing, and he’s currently dealing with a fractured finger, but those are some of the issues that come up during a season.
“It’s a consistent grind. It really is,” Roberts recently said of Freeman earlier in the year. “Even when he’s not feeling great, which I’d argue he hasn’t felt great all year, he’s still really performing.
“Just to show up, to post, compete every day.”
Freddie Freeman embraces high expectations
While most players would be thrilled to put up the numbers Freeman has this season, Freeman expects more of himself.
He’s currently on pace to finish hitting below .300 since the 2019 season, when he hit .295. Prior to that, 2015 was the last season he’s hit below .300.
While expectations are high, Freeman said he is grateful that so much is expected of him.
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