Freddie Freeman Reaching 2,500 Hits Is Even More Remarkable Than It Sounds

The Dodgers star may be one of the last of a dying breed in an ever-changing sport.

Freddie Freeman collected his 2,500th hit against the Pirates on Tuesday. | Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Freddie Freeman’s metronome-like greatness, game after game, year after year can sometimes get taken for granted, particularly in the grind of a 162-game season. So it was fitting that a man whose propensity to put bat to ball sometimes feels as guaranteed as the sun rising took our breath away with an extraordinary base hit in an ordinary Dodgers blowout win in June on Tuesday night.

Freeman, in his fifth plate appearance of Tuesday’s 12–3 win over the Pirates, ripped the first pitch he saw back up the middle for an RBI single—and the 2,500th hit of his career. Freeman is the only active player in MLB to reach the 2,500-hit checkpoint.

2,500 career hits for Freddie Freeman!

He makes it a 10-run inning for the @Dodgers 🤯 pic.twitter.com/KYj3DCWWHJ

— MLB (@MLB) June 10, 2026

Just how impressive is Freeman reaching 2,500 hits and who could be next?

Well, for starters, it was impressive enough that Freeman himself took a step back to reflect—a rarity for a player of his ilk in the middle of the season—acknowledging that it “does mean a lot.”

Freeman’s Dodgers teammate Mookie Betts, another future Hall of Famer, said it best.

“It’s harder than ever to get hits in today’s game, so it’s hard to imagine 2,500 hits, but Freddie is still going strong,” Betts said.

Indeed. Freeman made his MLB debut in 2010, not even a decade after the Moneyball A’s started an analytics revolution, just five years before Statcast was introduced to all 30 stadiums and with the average fastball velocity beginning its steady climb upwards.

Freddie Freeman made his MLB debut with the Braves back in 2010 at the age of 20. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Baseball’s technological craze has helped pitches become faster, spin harder and break better than ever before. In short, as Betts said, it’s never been harder to hit.

All Freeman has done is rap out 181 hits per 162 games during his 17 years in the majors. Not counting the pandemic-shortened season, when he hit .341, Freeman’s two highest batting averages in a full season have come in 2022 (.325) and '23 (.331). The league-wide batting average during those two seasons? .243 and .248, respectively, among the 25 lowest marks since 1871. Freeman rapped out a career-high 211 hits in '23, a year in which hits were collected at the 26th-lowest rate in MLB history.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, consider the recent trends of the historical path Freeman is on. Regardless of if he’ll hit the mark or not, Freeman now stands less than 500 hits away from 3,000, a number just 33 men have reached. Just 10 men have rapped out their 3,000th hit since 2000, and just four have done it in the last decade.

Not only has Freeman consistently been one of the league’s best hitters night after night against pitches of all shapes, spins and speeds, but he also very well may be the last of a dying breed in an ever-changing game.

Of the active players with the best shot at 3,000 career hits, Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, who with 2,430 hits will soon join Freeman in the 2,500-hit club, would seem to be the logical name. But Altuve, like Freeman, is 36 and facing a race against the clock to get to the storied number. Nos. 3 and 4 on the active hits list, Andrew McCutchen (2,280 hits) and Paul Goldschmidt (2,229 hits), are each closer to retirement at this point than 3,000 hits. Padres star Manny Machado (2,190 hits), who is under contract through 2033, may have the best shot outside of Freeman and Altuve, and should also be a shoo-in for 2,500 hits. Among players under 30, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1,144 hits) and Juan Soto (1,136 hits) are beacons of hope.

Freddie Freeman has in some ways outperformed his younger self—and Matt Olson

2,500 hits hasn’t just given us an opportunity to acknowledge Freeman’s greatness, but has also provided a logical checkpoint to evaluate his Dodgers career compared to that of his Braves tenure, as well as the man who replaced him in Atlanta.

Freeman, the Braves' former franchise player and a fan favorite, worked with the club to come to an agreement on a contract extension before he was set to reach free agency, but the two sides were unable to find traction. Then, the unthinkable happened. Freeman reached free agency and the two sides were still unable to reach an agreement, resulting in Freeman signing a six-year, $162 million deal with the Dodgers just days after the Braves swung a trade for Matt Olson.

Remarkably, Freeman, who was 32 years old in his first season in Los Angeles, has aged like the finest of wines with the Dodgers, outperforming himself in many respects.

Freeman's numbers with the Braves and Dodgers

Team	WAR per season	Slash line	Counting stats
Braves (2011–21)	3.9	.296/.385/.509	966 R, 270 HR, 940 RBI, 776 BB
Dodgers (2022–26)	4.6	.307/.389/.513	445 R, 106 HR, 417 RBI, 326 BB

While Freeman hasn’t won a regular season MVP with the Dodgers as he did with the Braves in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his regular season production has been just as gaudy, and he has brought the postseason heroics from the Braves' 2021 title with him to Hollywood.

In the 2024 World Series, Freeman authored an all-time playoff moment, belting the first walk-off grand slam in the history of the Fall Classic while proving to be an impossible out for the Yankees en route to being named World Series MVP. Freeman then played hero once again in the Dodgers' repeat championship run, belting a walk-off homer in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the 2025 World Series to become the only player with two walk-off dingers in the Fall Classic.

Freddie Freeman's grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was an all-time postseason moment. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Freeman has been worth every penny, and then some, for the Dodgers and has incredibly maintained his stellar level of play into his mid-30s.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, he’s hit better than the man the Braves replaced him with.

Comparing Freeman and Olson between 2022–26

Player	WAR per season	Slash line	Counting stats
Matt Olson, Braves	4.8	.262/.353/.511	438 R, 165 HR, 485 RBI, 370 BB
Freddie Freeman, Dodgers	4.6	.307/.389/.513	445 RB, 106 HR, 417 RBI, 326 BB

To be clear, Atlanta essentially bet that Olson, being four years younger, could replicate or better Freeman’s production at the plate while offering an upgrade defensively. And they’ve mostly been right, as Olson has had two 6.0-plus WAR seasons in Atlanta, has been the most durable player in baseball and is the NL MVP conversation thanks to a stellar start to the 2026 season. Things have worked out just fine in Atlanta.

But if the Braves feared Freeman wouldn’t age well, that simply hasn’t been the case. Freeman isn’t the defender Olson is, but he’s a more well-rounded hitter. The Braves won for finding a replacement as good as Freeman, and Freeman won for remaining arguably the best first baseman in the game in his 30s, a feat perhaps just as remarkable as the Dodgers star’s latest milestone.  

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