Not long ago during an interview, Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman said he wanted to play four more years which would give him 20 in the majors and take him to his age 40 season. His reasons for this are his goal of reaching 3,000 hits and finishing with a .300 batting average. Freeman averages 180 hits a year. He is just 12 hits away from 2500. He needs 123 hits the rest of the year to hit his 180 mark. At his current pace, he will finish with about 155. That would give him 2,623 hits. That would leave him 377 hits away from the magic 3,000 mark.
He also is closing in on 400 homers. He averages 27 a year, so again, easily attainable. He has 375 right now. He also would finish with over 1500 RBIs. He is the current active career leader. No matter what he decides, Freeman will likely be a first ballot Hall of Famer. 2024 was not a typical Freeman year. The illness of his son caused him to miss 2 weeks of the season. He batted just .282 with 22 homers and 89 driven in. Not a normal Freddie year, but he more than made up for it on a bum ankle when he was the World Series MVP and only the second Dodger to homer four times in a World Series. Duke Snider did it twice.
He rebounded in 25, but at .295, was just below his goal. He played in the same number of games as 24, hit 2 more homers, but drove in just 1 more run. His WAR for 25 was a full point lower than 24.4.5 to 3.5. In four post season series, he batted just .225 with 2 homers and 3 driven in. Is it age slowing him down, or something else? He has not had a typical Freddie year so far. His strikeout rate is right at 20%. His walk rate is slightly lower. It just seems he is not barreling up balls like he did the first two years in LA.
In his first two years in LA, he averaged 53 doubles a year. the last two, 37. Dave Roberts is giving him more rest the last couple of years. Freeman used to not want to take a day off. But behind the scenes, there seems to be something else happening that has Freddie re-evaluating his future. What brought about this thinking?
Well, it isn’t age or performance, even though the frustration with his performance so far is obvious in his facial expressions. Nope, it is the presence in his life of a little girl. His daughter, Rosemary, named after his mother, came into the World on April 19th, just a couple of weeks after the season began. She is their 4th child.
To a man with three sons, the daughter is special. I have 2 daughters and a son. My girls came first, so when my son was finally born, I felt fulfilled as a dad. For Freddie, this little girl has become the center of his universe. For maybe the first time in his career, his future in baseball is less certain. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, retirement from the game has become a topic. The goal of 3000 hits has taken a backseat to missing this little girl grow up.
From February to October, ball players are merely visitors in their homes except for the rare occasions when the family goes on a road trip with the team. Trust me, as a father, a lot can happen in 9 days on the road. As a truck driver, often I would be on the road for a month. That can strain relationships, but when your kids are young, it means you are missing parts of their lives.
It seems Freeman is beginning to not want to make that commitment further than the last year of his deal, 2027. I have to believe that Freddie and his wife, Chelsea, are going to have some serious discussions this off season about the future. Freddie has made enough to not have to worry about finances. I am also pretty sure he will be following the negotiations between the MLBPA and MLB over the new CBA this winter.
He will no doubt, honor his contract, and he will play in 27. But beyond that, well, only time will tell.
MiLB GAME SUMMARY REPORTS
Round Rock Express (Texas) 3 – OKC Comets 2
RHSP Christian Romero had an off night. He gave up a pair of solo HRs, but was struggling most of the night. He only walked one, but he also only struck out one. In his 4.2 IP, he had thrown 90 pitches (58 strikes).
RHRP Carlos Duran came in to relieve Romero and struck out the first batter to end the inning.
In the 5th, C Eliézer Alfonzo drew a leadoff walk. One out later 2B Tommy Edman walked. With 2 outs, RF Jack Suwinski walked to load the bases. LF Zach Ehrhard hit an infield single to the SS who threw the ball away as Alfonzo and Edman scored.
The pitchers took over from the 5th. The Comets did not get a hit, and drew just 1 BB the rest of the way.
OKC managed just 3 hits. No batter had more than 1 hit, and none were for XBH. Not a memorable game.
Tulsa Drillers 13 – Amarillo Sod Poodles (Arizona) 9
LHRP Evan Shaw was the opener for a bullpen game. The good thing in his 1.0 inning of work was that he did not walk anyone. The bad thing, he allowed 6 hits, scoring 4 runs. The first 4 batters were single, double, double, single. Two more singles before the inning was complete.
2B Taylor Young making his first start back at AA after a rehab assignment homered on his first AB in the 2nd inning.
In the 4th, SS Elijah Hainline led off with a BB, stole 2nd, and scored on 3B Jake Gelof’s single.
In the 5th, Tulsa exploded for 7 runs. Young led off with a BB and 1B Joe Vetrano reached on catcher’s interference. C Frank Rodriguez put down a sac bunt that was thrown away for an error on which Young scored. LF Josue De Paula singled to score Vetrano, and CF Mike Sirota doubled (5) to score Rodriguez. RF Zyhir Hope followed with a 3-run HR (10). DH Chris Newell started it up again with a BB. He stole 2nd and scored on Young’s single.
LHRP Christian Suarez pitched a pair of scoreless innings. LHRP Myles Caba pitched a scoreless 4th, but ran into trouble in the 5th. After a 2-out BB, he gave up a HR.
In the 6th, JDP drew a 1 out BB. Sirota forced JDP at 2nd. Hainline drew a BB followed by Hope’s 2nd 3-run HR (11) of the night.
In the home 6th, with Caba still on the mound, the first batter reached on an error. With one out, a single put runners on 1st and 2nd. RHRP Carson Hobbs came in and got the next out. But he walked the next two batters and then a 2-run single.
In the 8th, RHRP Kelvin Ramirez gave up a solo HR making the score 12-9.
In the 9th, Vetrano drew a 1-out BB. Rodriguez singled Vetrano to 2nd. After JDP forced Rodriguez at 2nd, Sirota delivered a run scoring single.
Kelvin Ramirez pitched a scoreless 9th to close out the game.
- Mike Sirota – 2-5, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, double (5)
- Zyhir Hope – 3-5, 2 runs, 6 RBI, 2 HR (11)
- Taylor Young – 2-3, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (1)
With Kendall George on the IL, Taylor Young should take over as the SB threat. He got his 1st tonight.
Great Lakes Loons 4 – Lansing Lugnuts (A’s) 0
LHSP Zach Root was just toying with the Lugnuts. He completed 7.0 innings, allowing just 1 single and striking out 9. One other Lugnut reached on an error while Root was in. Root threw 88 pitches (59 strikes) and faced just 23 batters. This was a thoroughly dominating game for Root. As I mentioned yesterday, Root cannot be long at Great Lakes. He deserves a shot at Tulsa.
RHRP Robby Porco walked one, but struck out 2 in his one inning. RHRP Dilan Figueredo allowed 1 hit in the 9th, with 1 K.
Great Lakes scored in the 3rd. C Victor Rodrigues doubled (3) and moved to 3rd on a WP. LF Chuck Davalan drove in Rodrigues with a sac fly.
In the 5th, Rodrigues led off with a BB. 3B Jose Izarra reached on a fielder’s choice and throwing error. CF Eduardo Quintero doubled (9) home both runners. Quintero moved to 3B on the throw home. SS Emil Morales followed with a sac fly and a 4-0 lead.
The Loons had 3 hits and the Lugnuts had 2. Two of the three Loons hits were doubles: Rodrigues (3) and Quintero (9). The third hit was a single by RF Kole Myers.
Stockton Ports (A’s) 16 – Ontario Tower Buzzers 8
RHSP Hyun-Seok Jang had his 2nd bad outing in a row. In the 1st, he allowed a double. The runner moved to 3rd on a ground out and scored on a WP.
In the home half, 2B Kellon Lindsey singled, was WP to 2nd and stole 3rd. After CF Jaron Elkins walked, 3B Chase Harlan hit into a DP and Lindsey scored.
In the 2nd, Jang gave up a run scoring double and a 2-run HR. In the bottom of the 2nd, DH Easton Shelton and RF Landyn Vidourek drew BB. With 2 outs 1B Mairo Martinus had an RBI single.
Jang gave up a solo HR in the 4th. Ontario got a 1-out single from C Conner O’Neal and Martinus doubled (11) him to 3rd. Lindsey banged a 2-run single to close within 1.
Jang retired the side in order in the 5th. In the 6th, RHRP Jhonny Jiminez gave up a run on a single, BB, sac bunt, and sac fly.
In the bottom of the 6th, O’Neal homered (4) to keep it a one run game.
With RHRP Jecsua Liborius on the mound, he hit the first two batters followed by 2 singles and 1 run. A balk and sac fly brought in 2 more.
In the 8th, Elkins doubled (9) and scored on Harlan’s single.
Stockton put up 6 in the 9th, and Ontario went down without a run, but O’Neal did hit a double (5) for his 4th hit of the night.
- Conner O’Neal – 4-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI, double (5), HR (4)
- Kellon Lindsey – 2-6, 1 run, 2 RBI
- Mairo Martinus – 2-5, 1 run 1 RBI, double (11)
- Doubles – Ching-Hsien Ko (7), Jaron Elkins (9)
DSL Royals Fortuna 11 – DSL Dodgers Bautista 3
Dodgers Bautista had 3 hits, all singles. Two of the three hits came from players deemed to keep an eye on (Melburne and Reynosa)
- DH Ezequiel Melburne
- SS Ariel Reynoso
- C Oliver Chapman
Melburne was 1-2 with 2 BB.
All 5 Dodgers Bautista pitchers allowed at least one run.
There was no DSL LAD Mega game or ACL game.