Can Freddie Freeman Hit 30 HR’s This Year?

For the second time this season, Atlanta Braves 1B Freddie Freeman is on a power surge.  In his last three starts for the Braves, Freeman has gone yard in each ball game.  His two home runs against the San Francisco Giants and his two-run blast last night over the Chase Field Pool in center have all been no-doubter mammoth moonshots.  This has been the one part of Freeman’s game that has left Braves Country wanting more.  We all know that he can hit .300 and knock in runs to all parts of the field when he’s at the plate.  With this recent proclivity for hitting the long ball, can Freddie Freeman hit 30 HR’s for the Braves this season?

As of last night, Freeman has eight home runs on the season in 51 games.  He is on pace for a 25 home run season, which would be a career high for the face of the Atlanta Braves franchise.  It’s not quite 30 but I’ll take it as this Braves team is not constructed to live and die by the home run anymore.  What makes the 30 home run mark so appealing is that it seems to confirm a batter as a power hitter.  And for a first baseman, you would want that sort of validation with your peers.  It’s a position known for power hitting.

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I feel like it’s been a while since the Braves had a 30 HR type of guy in their lineup.  Sure, Atlanta has had guys with the potential for that type of power but it was never consistent.  With Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, and Evan Gattis all playing for somebody else in 2015, Freddie Freeman might be our team’s only hope for a 30 homer season this season.  But I’m not super confident that he can reach that threshold for our favorite baseball team this year.

There were 16 games between his 4th and 5th homers and 21 games between his 5th and 6th long balls this season.  I don’t feel that his home run power is consistent enough to hit 30 for the Braves in 2015, but I do think that he can set a career high in long balls this year.  The way the ball is exploding off his bat these last four games on the road is unlike anything I’ve seen from Freeman in his four plus years with the Braves.  It’ll be close, but I believe Freddie Freeman will lead the team with 27 home runs this year as the Atlanta Braves contend for a wild card berth into the season’s final week.