Dodgers 2023 All-Star profile: Freddie Freeman

Freddie Freeman is the best hitter the Dodgers ever signed as a free agent. The almost literally everyday first baseman has been a force in LA’s lineup for a season and a half, and was an easy choice to make yet another All-Star Game.

Selection process

Freeman was voted to start at first base for the National League by fans, getting 60 percent of the vote in the final round compared to 40 percent by Matt Olson of the Braves.

In the player vote, Freeman got 479 votes at first base, with Olson a distant second at 155 votes.

All-Star history

This is the seventh All-Star selection for Freeman, and the fourth time elected to start the game. He was a reserve in 2013-14 with the Braves and in 2022 with the Dodgers, and voted to start in 2018, 2019, and 2021 with Atlanta before this year with Los Angeles.

Freeman did not play in the 2013 game, but he’s played in other five midsummer classics. He has two singles in seven at-bats and a walk. His hits were off Sean Doolittle in 2014 and Nathan Eovaldi in 2021, with a 2019 walk from Lucas Giolito in between.

Pre-break stats

Freeman started all 89 games, and is hitting .320/.396/.556 with 17 home runs and a 155 wRC+ that ranks third in the National League. He leads the majors with 31 doubles.

The first half saw two major milestones for Freeman, who hit his 300th career home run on May 18 in St. Louis, then collected his 2,000th hit on June 25 at home against Houston.

He was National League player of the month in May.

Freeman also leads the team with 12 stolen base, three more than outfielder James Outman. The last first baseman to lead the Dodgers in stolen bases was Jackie Robinson, who swiped 29 bags for Brooklyn in his rookie season in 1947.

Dodgers history

Amazingly, Freeman is only the third Dodgers first baseman to start an All-Star Game. He joins Gil Hodges, who started for Brooklyn in 1951, and Steve Garvey, who was an annual starter representing Los Angeles for seven straight years from 1974-80.