TOT - Braves Wave Good Bye to Starvin' Marvin

The Braves releasing Marvin Freeman would set the stage for the righty's most-memorable season.

Transaction of Today…October 25, 1993 - The Atlanta Braves released Marvin Freeman.

The list of special things ruined by the 1994 Strike is sadly too long. First World Series since 1904 to not be played. The best team in baseball record-wise was the Montreal Expos. They would never be the same after '94 and they may have stopped "The Streak" before it even really started. Matt Williams was on pace for 61 homers. Tony Gwynn was hitting .394. Greg Maddux had a 1.56 ERA. Randy Johnson had already struck out 200. Prior to the labor dispute on August 11, the season was shaping up for one of baseball's greatest.

In Colorado, another great season was short-circuited, but it had nothing to do with Andres Galarraga or Dante Bichette crushing dingers in Mile High Stadium. No, the excitement was every fifth day as Marvin Freeman took the mound and dazzled, earning nearly a fifth of the wins the Rockies had for the whole season. It was a great bounce-back for a guy who, on this day in 1993, was released by the Atlanta Braves.

"Starvin' Marvin" was a tall, lanky fireballer out of Chicago. At 6'7" with one of the best fastballs in the game, he was an intimidating force on the mound. Picked by the Expos in the '81 draft in the ninth round, he chose to go to Jackson State, a historical black university, in lieu of going north of the border. While he did not sign, the validation of being a target for a major league baseball team did seem to convince Freeman to not give up in baseball in favor of his lucrative part-time job as a bow-maker for concert-quality violins. In 1981, he was making $27 an hour. That’s about $88 in today’s money. I need to get my kids into bow-making.

Three years after saying no to the ‘Spos, Freeman was a second-round pick by the Phillies and the 49th overall selection of the ‘84 draft. Future Braves teammate, Pete Smith, was Philadelphia's first-round pick that season.

Freeman is probably one of the precious few players in history to have the exact same WHIP in the minors as he did in the majors - 1.457. Freeman was clearly a talented pitcher and made his major debut just two years after he was picked. In his second start, he tossed seven innings against the New York Mets, allowing just one hit, to earn his first win. Even bigger than beating the eventual champions was the fact that, during the game, he learned his first kid had been born.

But as talented as Freeman was, he couldn't seem to to stick in Philly. By 1990, the Phillies figured that his control was unfixable and entertained trade offers. The Braves were ready to get rid of their closer, Joe Boever, and the deal was reached on July 23.

The back-and-forth between the rotation and the bullpen ended as soon as Freeman left Philly. The lanky righty would become a trusted reliever for Bobby Cox in 1991, tossing 48 innings with an even 3.00 ERA. Just three seasons after walking 43 in 51.2 innings for the Phillies, Freeman walked just 13 in 1991. Unfortunately, elbow pain kept him out of the postseason picture that fall. Healthy, he returned to his bullpen role the following season and, while he wasn't as good, Freeman was still a productive member of the pen, tossing 64.1 innings with a 3.22 ERA. The walks were up to 29, but to be fair, seven were intentional.

Freeman got to pitch in the playoffs this time, appearing in three games in the NLCS. Sadly, he would take one on the chin in Game 6 against the Pirates. With the Braves already down 8-1 in the fifth, Freeman entered to try to keep the deficit where it was. Unfortunately, he walked a pair and gave up four runs in his first inning of work. In the sixth, he allowed a homer to Lloyd McClendon. Replaced to open the seventh, it would be Freeman's final game in the postseason as he would not be used in the World Series.

Injuries would keep Freeman from contributing much to the Braves' last NL West division title in 1993. He did appear in 21 games, but was hit hard-and-often, leading to a 6.08 ERA. With his price tag getting closer and closer to a million dollars, the Braves decided it was time to move on and released Freeman 29 years ago today rather than offer arbitration.

He wouldn't remain a free agent long. Four days later, the Rockies snatched up Freeman for bullpen help for their second major league season. However, fortune worked in Freeman’s favor in the form of a Kent Bottenfield injury. That opened up a rotation spot and Freeman pitched his way into the open seat. When Freeman took the ball on April 17, 1994 in Denver against the Expos, it was his first start in the majors since June 30, 1990.

After a month as the fifth starter, which included his only relief appearance of the season, Freeman had a 4.50 ERA. He went off from there, only allowing more than three runs just once. On June 13, with the Rockies visiting Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Freeman out-pitched Tom Glavine for a 7-2 win. It was a special victory and only because Freeman got to stick it to his former team. It was the Rockies' first win against the Braves after sixteen consecutive losses to begin their franchise’s history.

In a city that produces nightmares for Rockies pitchers, Freeman was the model of consistency. Start-after-start, he was giving his team a chance to win. The Rockies went 53-64 in 1994, but 13-5 in games Freeman started with the Jackson State alum picking up an even ten wins. He was oddly better at home (2.71 ERA) than he was on the road (2.90).

Freeman sought to become a carbon copy of Greg Maddux, his teammate in 1993. While no one could compare to Maddux at the time, Freeman would have finished third in the NL in ERA if he had enough innings (he was 1.1 innings short). Hard to say if Freeman's masterful season would have continued, but it's worth noting that in his final six starts, Freeman had a 2.04 ERA and that included three home appearances.

The Strike ended Freeman's season prematurely. Of Rockies pitchers with at least 100 innings, Freeman's 2.80 ERA for the 1994 season is still the lowest mark in franchise history. Only Kyle Freeland (2.85 in 2018) and Ubaldo Jimenez (2.88 in 2010) have repeated Freeman's accomplishment of a sub-3.00 ERA by a Rockies starter with at least 100 innings.

Freeman would finish tied with Doug Drabek for fourth in the Cy Young vote, won unanimously by Maddux.

Unfortunately, this was not the beginning of a career renaissance for Freeman. In the following year, his ERA ballooned to 5.89 and he struggled to keep his spot in the rotation. It only got worse in 1996 with a 6.04 ERA. On August 31, 1996, his time with the Rockies came to a close as the White Sox grabbed him off waivers. Even a trip home to the city he grew up in did little to turn the tables for Freeman. In his only start as a White Sox, he gave up four hits and three runs in two innings. A short-lived comeback effort in 1997 with the Jays saw Freeman appear once in Triple-A before his career came to a close.

Since retiring, Freeman has started the Marvin Freeman Youth Foundation, a non-profit that sponsors youth baseball for underprivileged youth. Freeman would also remain a beloved figure in Atlanta, appearing at many alumni events. His accomplishments with the Rockies continue to be fondly remembered as well. Freeman was almost known more for his clubhouse presence than anything he did on the field. He was one of the guys you could count on to crack a joke to keep his teammates loose. He was a "character" in clubhouses, especially with the Braves' first three big teams of their resurgence in the 90's.

And while a 6 bWAR career might seem like a bit of a letdown for a second-round pick, it's worth noting that Freeman, who was taken 21st in the second round, had the fifth-most bWAR from that year among second-rounders. And it's not his fault that the second round also included Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine that year. In fact, of the 54 players chosen in the first two rounds, Freeman's career bWAR ranks 13th. Not too shabby.

Overall, Freeman had an eventful career. During his first major league victory, his first child was born. He pitched in the playoffs. He out-dueled Tom Glavine and has the best single-season ERA of any Rockies pitcher with 100 or more innings. These are accomplishments many of us could only dream of.

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