David Freese

David Richard Freese (born April 28, 1983) is an American former professional baseball third baseman.

Born on April 28, 1983, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Freese was raised in the Greater St. Louis area, in Wildwood, Missouri.

He grew up a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.

He attended Lafayette High School in Wildwood, and played for the school's baseball team as a shortstop.

Freese recorded a Lafayette-record .533 batting average and 23 home runs during his senior season.

He was considered to be the best shortstop in the state.

Freese graduated from Lafayette in 2001.

As a senior in high school, Freese was offered a scholarship to play college baseball for the University of Missouri's baseball team.

Feeling burned out, Freese decided to quit the sport.

He enrolled at Missouri and studied computer science, while joining the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

During the summer after his freshman year, Freese worked for the Rockwood School District maintenance department.

When he visited Lafayette High School towards the end of the summer, he realized how much he missed baseball.

Freese asked Tony Dattoli, the coach at St. Louis Community College–Meramec, for a roster spot.

In one season at St. Louis Community College, Freese hit .396 with 41 runs batted in (RBIs) and 10 home runs and was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association All-America second team.

Dattoli recommended Freese to Steve Kittrell, the head coach of the Jaguars baseball team at the University of South Alabama.

At South Alabama, opposing teams respected his hitting ability; scouts told their pitchers: "Don't let Freese beat us."

As a junior in 2005, Freese hit .373, with a .443 on-base percentage (OBP), .525 slugging percentage (SLG), and 52 runs scored in 56 games.

He was seventh in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) in average and led the school one year after Adam Lind had done so.

The San Diego Padres selected Freese in the ninth round of the 2006 MLB draft.

Freese was even better in 2006, hitting .414 with a .503 OBP and .661 SLG with 73 runs and 73 RBIs in 60 games.

He won the SBC batting title and led the conference in RBIs.

Prior to the 2006 Major League Baseball draft, the Boston Red Sox attempted to sign Freese as a free agent for a $90,000 signing bonus.

The Cardinals acquired Freese before the 2008 season.

He began his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009, where, two seasons later, he was a key player during the 2011 postseason, batting .545 with 12 hits in the 2011 National League Championship Series (NLCS).

At the time, he also set an MLB postseason record of 21 runs batted in (RBIs), which earned him the NLCS MVP Award and World Series MVP Award.

He made his MLB debut on Opening Day 2009 due to an injury to starting third baseman Troy Glaus.

In addition, Freese won the Babe Ruth Award, naming him the MVP of the 2011 MLB postseason.

He also played for the Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

A star high school player, Freese declined a college baseball scholarship from the University of Missouri.

Needing a break from baseball, he sat out his freshman year of college before feeling a renewed urge to play the game.

He transferred to St. Louis Community College–Meramec, a junior college, where he played for one season before transferring to the University of South Alabama.

Despite suffering his own injuries in the minor leagues and in his first two MLB seasons, Freese batted .297 with 10 home runs and 55 RBIs during 2011, a season capped off by the Cardinals' 2011 World Series championship over the Texas Rangers.

The next season, he batted .293 with 20 home runs and was selected to his first MLB All-Star Game.

He tied for ninth in Division I in RBIs, was 12th in average and just missed the top 10 in runs scored.

He made the All-Conference team at third base and was named SBC Player of the Year.

He was named an American Baseball Coaches Association All-American as the top third baseman in NCAA Division I, ahead of Evan Longoria and Pedro Alvarez, among others.

Kittrell considers Freese to be the best player he coached at South Alabama, where he also coached Lind, Luis Gonzalez, and Juan Pierre.

Freese authored a 20-game hitting streak in 2013, but back injuries limited his effectiveness, and the Cardinals traded him to the Angels following the season.

He played for the Angels for two seasons before signing with the Pirates in March 2016.

The Pirates traded Freese to the Dodgers in 2018, and he retired after the 2019 season.