Freddie Freeman is a incredible baseball participant. Since the start of 2020, he’s tied with Juan Soto for fourth in wRC+, sitting at 157. He can be as sturdy as every other place participant within the league, rating third in video games performed in that very same span. But wRC+ and sturdiness aren’t why I’m right here to debate Freeman at present. Instead, I’m excited by his baserunning.
Baserunning is definitely not a very powerful side of Freeman’s recreation, however he’s darn good at it. Before I get into how and why, although, I wish to speak about his lack of pace. At 26.6 ft/s on common, Freeman is a Thirty fifth-percentile runner; within the panorama of the league and different good baserunners, he’s a little bit of a tortoise. But that doesn’t cease him on the bases.
When it involves baserunning, your chances are high significantly better of being above common on the basepaths in the event you can boogie. If you peruse the BsR or Statcast Runner Runs leaderboards, you’ll see principally Ninetieth-percentile runners and above, with the underside line being within the mid-70s. Rarely does a reputation like Freeman’s pop up, however he ranks seventeenth of 139 in BsR and thirty seventh of 295 in Runner Runs. For him, these outcomes come about due to different elements of the sport that you just don’t want pace for: instincts, reads, and preparation. The additional down you might be within the pace division, the extra essential these abilities change into. This wasn’t at all times a constructive a part of Freeman’s recreation, however in the previous couple of years, he has been persistently above-average.
When you’re watching a recreation on tv, you don’t at all times catch nice baserunning choices at first look. The recreation is centered across the pitch, the swing, and the fielding try; that’s what the cameras observe. But on replay, you see a runner realized the nook outfielder was taking a diagonal route and was going to want two further steps to make a powerful throw. Those two steps are the distinction between protected and out, however the runner didn’t hesitate and took an additional base. Baserunners should see and course of this in a break up second, weighing their very own pace in opposition to a fielder’s arm power. It’s not like Freeman is a giant threat taker, however he actually understands when and when to not go.
With Statcast’s new baserunning leaderboard, we’re in a position to see precisely what number of runs above common have been created from a single play. So let’s have a look at some performs the place Freeman scored at house, performs the place he was protected at second or third on his or a teammate’s hit, and performs the place he was protected at second or third from a stolen base. We’ll begin with performs on the plate:
When you’re on the basepaths, you could have a guidelines of issues to know earlier than the play truly occurs. First, be sure you’re on the bottom earlier than you begin trying across the area and discover who has the ball. Second, verify the place of every outfielder. Are they shading towards the traces or the gaps? Third, know the arm power of every outfielder. Lastly, see who’s on the plate. When you play with guys daily and watch them take batting observe daily, you get a good sense of what their tendencies are. Combine all this data, and also you’re higher outfitted to make split-second choices.
In the primary GIF, Freeman knew that Randy Arozarena needed to run to his proper and make a throw off his again foot. Typically, you received’t take off for house if the participant fields the ball earlier than you even get to 3rd base, however Arozarena doesn’t have a powerful arm and didn’t have his momentum getting into the proper path. Freeman made a rapid resolution, and Arozarena didn’t hassle going for the out.
In the second GIF, Jordan Luplow ran in from deep proper area to catch a skyscraper pop up with no time to get round and behind the ball. His momentum took him towards third base as an alternative of house. This was a shallow spot, however Freeman knew it might be too tough to make an ideal throw and comfortably took house.
The final play — a fly ball to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. — was a easy case of realizing your outfielders. This too was not a deep fly ball, however in the event you problem the proper thrower, that is greater than deep sufficient. Gurriel made a throw approach off line, and Freeman cruised into the plate. I wish to reiterate that none of those are massive dangers; relatively, they’re the right time for a runner like Freeman to drive a participant to make a play.
Now let’s have a look at another sound choices Freeman has made:
Jason Heyward is the precise sort of participant to hook a single down the road. Freeman knew off the bat this was going to be a first-to-third alternative; he doesn’t even peek at Mark Mathias after the ball is hit. He is totally ready to drive Mathias to make the perfect play of his life. He didn’t, and Freeman reached third with one out and an opportunity for a sac fly to drive him in.
When you hit a line drive deep down the proper area line, you possibly can clearly see the route a fielder takes to the ball. Nolan Jones tried to be too direct, and he paid the worth. Even along with his One hundredth-percentile arm power, he nonetheless couldn’t catch Freeman, as a result of he took one too many steps. It’s the identical story within the third GIF, a line drive into the left-center hole. You can clearly see all of it play out: Michael Conforto set the desk earlier than eliminating the ball, and it was sufficient for Freeman to make it a bang-bang play. There’s nothing like an emphatic protected name from an umpire if you’re sliding into second on a play this shut.
Lastly, we’ve got to understand Freeman’s potential to steal bases. He solely has 82 in his profession, however 16 of them have come this 12 months — a brand new profession excessive, breaking a mark set… final season, when he swiped 13. He is 16-for-17 in makes an attempt, and the next two performs completely symbolize his cleverness in choosing his spots:
Any good baserunner is aware of how straightforward it may be to get a giant leap in opposition to a lefty reliever. If you’ve executed your scouting, you understand who these guys are and what their tells are. Kirby Snead appears to be a long-hold-and-stare type of dude. Freeman knew this and acquired such a giant leap that solely an ideal throw would have gotten him. This is a traditional case of stealing on the pitcher’s lack of a menace to select you off.
The different efficient technique to take a bag, even when a pitcher has a fast transfer, is to select the proper pitch. In Will Smith’s first-inning plate look in opposition to Blake Snell, he went yard to left area; Snell didn’t throw him a single curveball within the at-bat. In the third inning, he walked Smith however began the at-bat along with his patented crazy curveball. He went to the pitch once more to begin his third matchup with Smith. This might be the perfect instance of Freeman realizing the scouting report and taking a slight threat that Snell would observe it. No pitch is tougher to throw all the way down to second on than a glove-side breaking ball; you need to transfer the ball throughout your physique, and there’s a lot room for error. This is what I prefer to name a stolen base ambush.
There aren’t many runners within the league like Freeman; persistently making the proper choices on the basepaths is just not straightforward! But he makes it look easy and is as instinctive as they arrive on the market, and it’s change into one in all my favourite tendencies to trace all through this season. If Freeman continues on this observe, he has an opportunity of claiming the unbelievable title of being a 20–20 participant for the primary time in his profession on the age of 33.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com