Atlanta Braves: The Return of Freddie Freeman

After a difficult start to June, the Atlanta Braves first baseman bounced back with one of the best weeks we have seen from any hitter this season, earning recognition as National League Player of the week.

If John Coppolella is to be believed, Freddie Freeman is the one untouchable player within the Atlanta Braves organization and he remains the sole position player to survive the great ‘exodus’ of 2014/2015, when the new regime traded almost the entire team in an effort to rebuild what was back then, the worst farm system in baseball.

After an up and down start to the season, a lot of fans were starting wonder whether the front offices decision to stand so strongly behind Freeman was a smart one.

After a disappointing 2015 where his play was unfortunately affected by a wrist injury, early 2016 saw him struggle to be the much needed foundation piece in the Atlanta Braves young organization.

Going into this past week, his name was starting to emerge on more and more of those ‘most likely to be traded list’ as commentators started questioning how sold the front office was on him.

Surely playing on a team that is one of the worst in baseball was not an ideal environment for a 2x All Star? Maybe the wrist injury is still bothering him after all and is it really worth being on the hook for over $100 million to a hitter with that sort of problem? Perhaps it would be best for everyone if the Braves moved on and got what they could for him now before he declined any further?

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Well they say a week is a long time in baseball and after the week Freeman and the Atlanta Braves had, they are probably feeling an awful lot better. Against the Reds he was fantastic, hitting the first Cycle of the year while also launching 3 home runs in 4 games and bringing in 6 RBIs.

This weekend, facing one of the best pitching staffs in the bigs, he went 7 for 13 over 3 games against the New York Mets, meaning that over the entire week, his average came in at a lofty .548.

He was also by no means the only position player who made an impact this week with Jeff Francoeur, Tyler Flowers, Nick Markakis and finally Ender Inciarte all making big contributions at crucial times.

After fighting back to tie the up with the Reds, the whole team seemed considerably looser against the Mets which enabled them to sweep the reigning National League Champions. The starting pitchers controlled their games against some very dangerous bats and the hitters simply swung away against one of the toughest rotations in baseball.

For most fans, this is a welcome change after watching a team that has at time been almost unwatchable this past year and while it is unlikely that Freeman’s pyrotechnics are the sole cause for this improvement, they helped remind all of us just how good he can be.

Despite his earlier slumps, he’s on pace for over 25 home runs (a career record) and could well end up sneaking into the All Star game again if he’s able to maintain some of this momentum which considering the record this team will post at the break would be a serious achievement.

Next: Teheran Leads Braves to fifth straight win

While weeks like this are unlikely to translate into the norm (if they did, we’d be looking at an MVP candidate), Atlanta Braves fans can feel comfortable about the fact that Freddie is indeed back, and that of course means that he is as untouchable as ever.

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