Nate Freiman

Nathan Samuel Freiman (born December 31, 1986) is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball in 2013 and 2014.

He was both a pitcher and a slugging catcher for the Wellesley High School baseball team for four years, graduating in 2005.

In his junior year, he led the Bay State Conference with a .500 batting average and 19 RBIs.

As a pitcher with a 90 mph fastball, he was 17–1 in his last two years.

As a batter, he hit .500.

He was a three-time all-Conference selection, and a two-year team captain.

Freiman was the best player in Massachusetts in his final two years: MVP of the Bay State Conference as a junior and senior, winner of the Division 2 Baseball Player of the Year Award as a junior and senior, and winner of the state's Gatorade Player of the Year and ranked by Perfect Game USA as the top high school prospect in Massachusetts as a senior.

Baseball America rated him one of the top 50 high school prospects in the country.

At the same time, he lettered in indoor track (running 300 meter and 600 meter races as well as in the 55 meter hurdles) and was captain of the track team.

He was also editor of his high school newspaper, The Bradford, and is a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Spanish Honor Society.

In 2006, his freshman year, Freiman injured his throwing arm in the first inning of his only start on the mound, ending his pitching aspirations.

He made the All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) academic baseball team and the ACC academic honor roll.

In 2007, he led the team with a .369 batting average, 7 home runs and 48 RBIs.

He was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III Second Team selection, and made the All-ACC academic team and the ACC academic honor roll for the second consecutive year.

He played for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod League in the summer, and was fifth in the league in RBIs with 28.

In 2008, he led the team with a .381 batting average, 11 home runs and 46 RBIs, and was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III first team selection and a member of the All-ACC Academic baseball team, the ACC academic honor roll and the Jewish All-American team by the Jewish Sports Review.

He again played with the Orleans Cardinals in the Cape Cod League during the summer.

In the minor leagues, playing in the San Diego Padres organization, he led the Northwest League in runs batted in (RBIs) and extra base hits in 2009, was a Midwest League midseason All-Star in 2010, and was a California League postseason All-Star in 2011.

The two were Duke's ACC Senior Male and Female Athletes of the Year in 2009.

Freiman is Jewish, and was born in Washington, D.C., to Len and Marjorie Freiman, a lawyer and a teacher of Judaism, respectively.

Both of his parents have law degrees.

Freiman attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, graduating in 2009 with a baccalaureate degree as a history major and a mathematics minor.

He played college baseball for the Duke Blue Devils baseball team as a first baseman and catcher.

As a senior in 2009, Freiman led the ACC in home runs with 20, becoming only the second player in Duke history to hit 20 home runs in a season, and breaking the Blue Devils' all-time career home run record of 42 by Ryan Jackson.

He also led Duke in homers, batting average (.352) and RBIs (62) for the third straight year, earning second-team All-ACC honors.

In addition to holding Duke's all-time career home run record (43), his .356 career batting average is the second-highest in school history.

He also holds the Duke career slugging percentage record (.616), and ranks third among Duke players in career on-base percentage (.437), fifth in RBIs (180), sixth in doubles (51) and tied for ninth in hits (251).

He earned all-ACC academic team and honor roll honors each season at Duke (as cited above), and is the only player in school history to receive the ACC Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which he was voted in 2009.

In 2012, Freiman led the Texas League in RBIs and hits, and was both a midseason and postseason All-Star.

In December 2012, the Astros picked Freiman in the Rule 5 draft and added him to their 40-man roster.

In 2013, baseball writer Tim Brown wrote of his 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) frame, "Near as anyone can tell, there's never been a taller major-league position player than Freiman."

Freiman holds Duke University's career home run record, and the school's second-highest all-time batting average.

In March 2013, the Athletics claimed him off waivers, and he made his major league debut for the Athletics the following month.

Freiman was voted American League Rookie of the Month for May 2013, and for the season he batted .274.

His younger brother, Eli, was preparing for medical board examinations as Nate was starting his major league career early in the 2013 season.

Freiman grew up in the college town of Wellesley, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Boston, where he was also taught AP Physics by Michael Krieger in his senior year, and his ability to throw an egg at high speed towards a blanket was recognized by the teacher.

He started 2014 in Triple-A.

But after leading the Pacific Coast League in RBIs through June 29, while tying for seventh in the league in home runs, he was called back up to the A's. On July 2, 2015, the A's designated Freiman for assignment.

He played for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Freiman is married to golfer Amanda Blumenherst.