As a Southern California native, it wasn’t hard for Freddie Freeman to embrace the double-double once he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers after more than a decade with the Atlanta Braves.
Freeman has given opposing pitchers trouble throughout his career, but he has taken that up another level in L.A. en route to breaking a long-standing Dodgers franchise record — and it’s only the beginning of September.
On Friday, Freeman hit his 53rd double of the season that broke a tie with Johnny Frederick to take sole possession of the most two-baggers in a single season in club history. Frederick hit 52 doubles for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1929 season.
Freeman previously set the L.A. Dodgers record with his 50th double, breaking the mark held by Shawn Green set during the 2003 season.
After becoming the new Dodgers franchise record holder for most doubles, Freeman acknowledged the accomplishment and history of the organization, via Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“This franchise has been around for a very long time,” Freeman said. “A lot of winning seasons. A lot of great players have come through here. So just to be able to be mentioned with some of these guys I’m climbing the leaderboard on, it’s pretty cool. It’s been a wonderful two years so far, so hopefully, I can just keep re-breaking for the next couple weeks.”
Freeman set his career high last season with 47 doubles, his first year with the Dodgers, after topping out at 44 with the Braves in 2018.
The seven-time All-Star is on pace to finish with 61 doubles this year, which puts him in a potential position to break the National League record, and possibly even the all-time MLB mark.
Joe Medwick holds the NL record with 64 doubles, which he set during the 1936 season with the St. Louis Cardinals. The MLB record was set by Earl Webb for the Boston Red Sox with 67 in 1931.
The last player with 60 doubles in a season was Medwick, while Charlie Gehringer also hit 60 during that 1936 season for the Detroit Tigers. Only six players in MLB history have achieved the feat.
In modern times, Todd Helton came the closest to reaching that mark with 59 doubles during the 2000 season, and Nick Castellanos hit 58 in 2019.
Freddie Freeman set Dodgers record for doubles in a month
Freeman has been raking throughout the season, which saw him set the franchise-record with 17 doubles in May and earned him the NL Player of the Month award. The 33-year-old nearly matched that total in August, finishing the month with 16.
In addition, Freeman became the first Dodgers player to reach 100 hits, 50 RBI and 10 stolen bases before July since RBI was first tracked in 1920. He also reached the 2,000 hit mark earlier this season.
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