Advertisement

How can Freddie Freeman pass Dodgers' franchise extra-base hit record?

Don't let Freddie Freeman's ridiculous season get lost in the Mookie Betts shuffle.
Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Dodgers Way

Arizona Diamondbacks v Los Angeles Dodgers / Jayne Kamin-Oncea/GettyImages

Freddie Freeman used Mookie Betts' return to Fenway Park as a cover to make an impressive statement of his own this weekend in Boston.

While Betts was scaling the monster and winking at Chaim Bloom, Freeman was abusing the big green wall, too, securing his place in Los Angeles Dodgers history by smacking a pair of doubles in Sunday's win.

That gave him 50 two-baggers on the season, earning him congratulations from the previous LA record holder Shawn Green. Ironically, Green's father was Freeman's youth hitting coach, so this particular record will remain in one big family.

Considering we've still yet to reach the end of August, that means plenty more Dodgers franchise records/league-wide marks are in Freeman's sights down the stretch. While he grabbed the LA Dodgers record over the weekend, he's still two doubles shy of the all-time franchise record, first set by Johnny Frederick back in 1929. Frederick reached the mark in his rookie season, watched his doubles total decrease during each of the next five seasons, and retired after 1934.

Nobody wants Frederick to be lost to history, but at least he'll be eclipsed by another, more modern Frederick, who hopes to avoid a similar decline.

Dodgers' Freddie Freeman chasing franchise extra-base hit record

Freeman might be the LA Dodgers' doubles king already, but he has a good chance to own the franchise extra-base hit mark by the end of September. Add his 24 bombs and two triples (!), and Freeman needs just nine more to pass the all-time LA mark and 19 if he wants to get really nuts and own the franchise record.

Also in Freeman's sights? Earl Webb's MLB record for most doubles in a season, which has stood at 67 since the 1931 season. Webb was a Red Sox, in case Betts, Kiké Hernández and Ryan Brasier want to rub it in further.

Don't count out Freeman in the chase for the National League record, either, which belongs to Hall of Famer Joe "Ducky" Medwick (64).

These historic pursuits won't distract Freeman from his ultimate goal this year, but smashing doubles appears to come so naturally to this man that it would hardly be shocking to look up at the end of the year and realize, oh, he passed all of 'em.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard and Dodgers Way for 4 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast twice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for eight years. Previously, he was a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.