The Braves announced this morning that their star first baseman, Freddie Freeman, underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery on Wednesday in New York. According to the team announcement, the procedure “cleaned out the entire right elbow joint, removing three fragmented loose bodies and cleaning up multiple bone spur formations that had developed.”
Atlanta Braves 1B Freddie Freeman underwent arthroscopic right elbow surgery: pic.twitter.com/yfa5dZd5va
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 18, 2019
Unfortunately, this was expected after the way Freeman finished the year. He began feeling these issues in his elbow down the stretch of September and was forced to miss several games towards the end of the season. Like the ironman he is, there was no way the Braves were going to be able to hold him out of the postseason, and Freeman never once blamed his struggles against the Cardinals on the injury.
But we all knew something was up.
Not only did Freeman scuffle at the plate, but he also wasn’t the same guy in the field, failing to make several plays we’ve come to expect from last year’s Gold Glove Award winner. Freeman hit .200 in the five games of the NLDS and looked nothing like the MVP candidate he was during the regular season. With hindsight being 20/20, people are going to question whether he should have even been on the field, but with limited options behind him, Freeman was going to play with one arm if he had to – and he’s earned that right.
Looking forward, the Braves expect him to be ready for the start of spring training. Freeman hit 38 home runs and 121 RBIs in 2019 with a .295 batting average.