First Base: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves
2018 fWAR: 5.2
Freeman just edged out Paul Goldschmidt for this honor, and while his power took a dip, his overall productivity was as good as always. The left-handed slugger’s 23 homers and .196 ISO were both his lowest since 2015, but his 137 wRC+ was still in line with career norms.
Something that immediately sticks out about Freeman’s 2018 campaign is his 32.3% line-drive rate, which led the league among qualified hitters. The first baseman has always been more dependent on line drives, but this was easily a career-high mark for him. And suddenly, the drop in homers makes sense after seeing that this rise in liners came from his fly-ball rate. That number settled in at 31.3% after being at least 40.0% between 2016-17.
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