Plate discipline, a short swing, and a bat path that allows him to spray the ball around the field in the air — not bat speed or exit velocity — have been Freddie Freeman's greatest strengths as a hitter in 2024.
, according to Statcast. In an era where the ability to hit the ball hard with consistency is more synonymous with greatness than batting average, Freeman doesn’t care.
A career .301 hitter, Freeman continues to find a way to get the job done without the fastest bat on the planet.“I know I have a short swing and have made it work for me. I live middle-middle away. If I go middle away on the fastball and catch the slider out front it’s pull-side power alley. It’s nice when people hit the ball 120 or whatever but I can’t chase those numbers.
Still, the advanced metrics are easy to point to in a "down year" for the 2020 National League MVP. Freeman's average , on-base percentage , and slugging percentage are all below his benchmarks from his first two years with the Dodgers. His slugging percentage is down more than 100 points compared to 2023.
Some have pointed to a drop in exit velocity as cause for concern. Freeman's bat speed was not available to us until this year. Now that Statcast is publishing tracking bat speed for every player in the league, we knowThis doesn't seem to bother the Dodgers' 34-year-old first baseman. He's a decent bet to make the National League All-Star team for the sixth consecutive year when balloting ramps up in June.J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content for Inside the Dodgers, and is the author of 'The 50 Greatest Dodger Games Of All Time.' He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
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