I’ll do one more 2020 for Monster Monday before we turn back to our regularly scheduled programming. This card was alluded to in a Facebook comment to last week’s Monster Card Monday column which featured DJ LeMahieu. This week, it’s 2020 Freddie Freeman. In the Illowa APBA League, he is simply known as “Freddie”.
It probably isn’t fair to say that Freeman is a Thunderchicken-killer. I’m sure he has moments with other teams in the IAL. It just seems every time I face Don Smith, I have to watch out for Freddie. Sometimes I dream about a blockbuster deal for Freeman simply so I don’t have to face him.
Freeman hits another homer for Don back in 2019
Looking at this 2020 card, it looks like another year of fear from Freddie. Like LeMahieu, the Brave firstbaseman won his league’s MVP award in 2020.
Freeman hit 13 homers while batting .341 with a grand total of 53 rbis. He led the National League with 51 runs and 23 doubles
…all while playing great defense at first base.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Totals | 60 | 262 | 214 | 51 | 73 | 23 | 1 | 13 | 53 | 2 | 45 | 37 | .341 | .462 | .640 |
Freeman has five solid power numbers. APBA gave him 1-5-5-6-6 to help replicate his .640 slugging percentage. It doesn’t stop there. He received a 55-7 plus a 15-10 (based on two stolen bases).
An interesting stat is Freeman’s BB to K ratio. Did you know he walked more than he struck out in 2020? This is a new development for Freeman but he walked 45 times and only fanned 37 times. Seven of his walks were intentional. In this era of baseball, this seems very atypical.
Freeman’s 45 walks convert to a total of six 14s.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Freddie’s 1B-5 defensive rating. He is a J-0 so that means Don won’t be resting him against me in the 2021 IAL season.
In short, there isn’t much not to like about Freddie Freeman. That’s not news to me, though. Just more of the same.
It seems to me this card is better for average than Soto (despite hitting 10 points less). Differences are a 7&10 vs 11&8. Guess MVP may get you something extra? This is a monster card. He will be Marauding this year.