When Freddie Freeman was officially announced as the NL MVP on Thursday night via Zoom on the MLB Network, his four-year-old son, Charlie, ran into his dad's arms to hug him.
That emotional moment was just the cherry on top of a crazy year in 2020 for the Atlanta Braves first baseman who dealt with COVID-19 just before the season began and lost his grandmother at the beginning of the year.
Winning the award for the first time in his career and becoming the first Brave to receive the honor since 1999, brought back a lot of emotions for Freeman, who also lost his mother when he was 10 years old.
"It was a tough year for the Freeman family how it started off losing my grandmother but I've got a couple angels up there," he said. "I think they really helped me get through this season and win this award."
The award was even more special after Freeman had an extremely slow start to the season after dealing with a bad case of COVID and returned to the team just five days before Opening Day.
“It really is amazing,” Freeman said. “To take a step back and see how my first two weeks started, I was just trying to play so well so fast. I think I kind of asked too much of myself when I only had five days (to prepare.) But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t try to do that. It just took me a couple of weeks.”
Freddie Freeman looks on during the playoffsPhoto by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
At age 31, Freeman has finished in the top 10 of NL MVP voting multiple times but had never finished higher than fourth.
This season, he was moved into the No. 2 spot of the batting order for 26 games, where he would end up hitting .390 with six home runs and walked more than striking.
He believes that it wouldn't have been possible without outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. batting ahead of him, and Marcell Ozuna, who finished sixth in NL MVP voting, batting behind him.
"When you lead the league in homers and RBIs like he (Ozuna) did, that’s just a special year, and then to top it off, hitting .338, what an amazing year he had," Freeman said. "He’s the reason I’m here, and Ronald in front of me. I had damage around me, and having a right-left-right (batting order at the top of the lineup), with the three-batter rule, it’s really hard to bring in a lefty. Especially with (Travis) d’Arnaud hitting fourth and the way he swung it this year.
“I just had more opportunities for damage, and that’s because of Ronald, Marcell and Travis.”
Freeman now joins a club of only seven total players to win an MVP for the Braves.
Chipper Jones was the last to win the award for Atlanta and played with Freeman from 2010-11 in Jones' final two years.
Before Jones, Terry Pendelton won in 1991 and is now a special assistant with the Braves working with Freeman.
"It's amazing to be able to play with Chipper, to learn from him, to have TP as a coach and guide to really help me play the game the right way," Freeman said. "(To) learn from Dale Murphy who has been around in spring training, and he’s a big influence on all of us. So to be in the same class as them and Hank Aaron and all those kind of guys, it’s really hard to put into words right now.”
Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Freeman has been an elite player for quite some time in the league and has heard the talk about being the frontrunner for the MVP this year, but the reality of his newest accomplishment didn't hit him until it officially happened.
"I went to dinner with Ryan Howard (former Philadelphia first baseman) about a week ago, and he said, ‘When you put those initials [MVP] after your name, that changes everything," Freeman said. "All that hard work that you’ve put in since I was 5 years old paid off, because I don’t think anybody could dream of ever winning an MVP."
Now, after the crazy year of 2020, Freeman can at least sit back and enjoy the individual accomplishment of finally being able to put the word "MVP" on his career achievements.
"I've always been close, but to finally win one and to be with those guys on that wall, it's really special," he said.
