What can the Pirates expect from David Freese?

Can David Freese give the Pirates the edge they need to finally accomplish their goal of reaching the fall classic and parading through downtown Pittsburgh, or will he just be another new face on an underachieving team?

In 2011, then-Cardinal David Freese played the hero as he took home the titles of NLCS and World Series MVP, and the St. Louis Cardinals became world champions for the second time in the past decade. In the NLCS, he hit .545 with three home runs, nine RBIs, and seven runs scored.

In the World Series, he turned in one of the greatest postseason performances in recent history. In Game Six, his heroics began by tying the game with a triple with two outs in the ninth, and then he ended it to force the decisive Game Seven.

If the pitcher on the mound for the game-tying triple looks familiar, that would be because it’s Pirates reliever, then-Texas Ranger Neftali Feliz.

Freese followed up a storybook ending with an All-Star campaign the following year. He set career highs in walks, home runs, RBIs, hits, and batting average (among qualifying years). In 2013, he began the downward slope that claims every player, the losing game against time. The baseball world watched as his range factor, batting average, batting average on balls in play (BABIP), and flyball rate all declined.

Freese has his share of strikeouts. He’s not a particularly disciplined hitter. He doesn’t walk nearly as much as you might expect for a veteran hitter. He isn’t particularly fast. His power numbers are nothing impressive (outside of 2012 and 2015), and Freese is borderline above average both offensively and defensively, at best.

That all sounds relatively bad, and it may have contributed to David Freese being out of a job until this weekend. In reality, his unemployment is simply due to the general lack of a starting position available to him throughout baseball. Just about any veteran would lament being relegated to a bench role, especially one that lacks position versatility like Freese. However, he has been extremely open to contributing in whatever capacity the Pirates choose to use him. At least as far as his interactions with the media are concerned, David Freese is a man that wants to be in Pittsburgh.

David Freese, the newest Pirate, explains why he wanted to come to Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/92mQG9ZznF

— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) March 12, 2016

Now, why would the people of Pittsburgh want David Freese to be here? “The idea is it adds a very talented, veteran bat to our club that’s an experienced winner, that is going to bounce around the field for us and gives us an insurance policy until Jung Ho’s ready to go,” General Manager Neal Huntington said. For starters, he is a competent defender and is capable of making the extraordinary play from time to time. He has a very high baseball IQ and will not often be caught making poor decisions on the base-paths or chasing after a ball he cannot reach instead of covering a base or backing up the play. He can hit the ball to all fields anywhere in – or out – of the zone. Freese is a true contact hitter in the sense that he knows how to adjust his swing to put the barrel on the ball more often than not, but that isn’t the key to his success in 2016.

Source: FanGraphs

Source: FanGraphs

David Freese was successful in the past for two main reasons. He was successful hitting up the middle and to the opposite field, but he excelled at getting hits when pulling the ball to left field. In 2014, that changed along with his uniform. His average when pulling the ball dropped nearly 100 points. He recovered slightly in 2015, but considering he was batting over .400 when hitting to left field prior to 2013, it will be something for him to focus on to return to being a force to be reckoned with in 2016.

From the early stages in baseball, players are taught how difficult it is to hit a round ball with a round bat and not to swing under the ball, but someone needs to tell Freese to swing under the ball. Every hitter, regardless of whether they hit for contact or power, ‘tomahawks’ the ball. This means getting on top of the ball and most of the time grounding it or chopping the ball. On ground-balls for his career, Freese hits an impressive .272, but when hitting to the infield, which is where most ground-balls get stopped, he hits just .071. Freese has been at his best, as evidenced by his 2015 highlights below, when he gets under the ball and drives it to the outfield, where he has hit .636 for his career when the ball makes it out of the infield.

David Freese may have seen his last All-Star appearance in 2012, but he is a solid defender, a decent offensive weapon (especially as a backup), and a significant addition to the clubhouse atmosphere. If he can continue hitting to all fields, recover some power, stay under the ball and drive it for line drives and fly balls, and pull the ball to the outfield in left a little more often, Freese could prove to be the best pickup of the Pirates off-season.

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