Apr 19, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians center fielder Tyler Freeman (2) celebrates after hitting a home run during the second inning against the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
There isn't a more challenging jump for a baseball player than from Triple-A to the Major Leagues.
What worked in the minors isn't guaranteed to translate to the next level, and a transition period can last a week, a month, or even a year.
One player who knows this better than anyone is Cleveland Guardians' Tyler Freeman.
Freeman was at one point viewed as a top prospect in the organization, and his contact skills and lack of swing and miss made him seem like a safe bet to at least be a league-average hitter at the big league level.
However, that hasn't been the case. In 560 at-bats across three seasons, Freeman has just a .223/.304/.329 slash line and a .633 OPS.
Time is ticking for him to put it all together, but Freeman's story isn't entirely written yet. Plus, there are some underlying stats that show the best is still yet to come for the 25-year-old.
Let's start with Freeman's plate awareness. There aren't many other players in baseball who have better plate discipline than the Guardians versatile fielder.
Freeman had a whiff percentage of 16.4 percent (91st percentile) and a 13.8 percent strikeout rate (93rd percentile) last season. Clearly, he knows when to swing and when not to.
The problem is that his discipline hasn't translated to productive at-bats.
Freeman may want to take a page out of Steven Kwan's book. Just because you make contact and put the ball in play, resulting in a fly-out or ground-out, doesn't mean it was a productive at-bat.
Kwan has discussed on multiple occasions how being more selective with the pitches he swings has improved his overall game, and Freeman could be the same.
Even if Freeman starts swinging and missing and striking out more, it could lead to better overall stats and production if he's swinging at pitches that will result in hits
There's also a luck element to Freeman's poor counting stats. In 2023, he had a .242 batting average with a .272 expected batting average. It was a similar story in 2024, as Freeman finished the year a .209 batting average and with an expected batting average of .236.
These stats don't necessarily mean Freeman should be an All-Star. But there is certainly some disagreement between his expected numbers and his actual performance.
With Freeman's versatility as an infielder and an outfielder, there should be plenty of opportunities for him to find playing time during spring training and into the regular season.
If he slightly changes his plate approach and finally has a little luck go his way, Freeman still has the talent to be one of the most consistent hitters on the Guardians.
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