Pedro Martinez just gave Freddie Freeman a Hall of Fame endorsement after the Dodgers’ 12-3 win. Martinez won three Cy Young awards. He also made the Hall of Fame on his very first try. When he speaks, baseball fans listen. Now, he is officially welcoming the Dodgers star to Cooperstown. He did this right after Freeman reached 2,500 career hits.

“Congrats on another great night, and I’m waiting for you in the whole thing,” Martinez was upfront during the postgame interview with the Dodgers’ first baseman. “I’m just saying. I’m waiting for you.”

Freddie Freeman is in his 17th MLB season. He spent 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves before joining the Dodgers. Freeman is an elite slugger with 2,512 hits as of June 24 and is the only active player with a 2.5K-hit mark. He has a .299 career batting average while recording 1,365 RBIs and 380 HRs. And his 66.2 WAR puts him just above the Hall of Fame baseline for a first baseman. 

The 9x All-Star won his first ring in his last season with the Braves in 2021. Then he added two more to his name, helping the Dodgers during their repeat World Series championship. Now add multiple Silver Sluggers, a Golden Glove, 2020 NL MVP, and leading different offensive categories on several seasons. Plus, his most recent milestone. It’s easy to understand Martinez’s claim.

Martinez had 3,154 career strikeouts and got 91.1% of the Hall of Fame vote. Getting praise from a legend like him is a huge deal.

However, despite Martinez making a strong case for him, Freeman didn’t comment on that. He had earlier expressed the will to play until the age of 40 and complete two decades in the game. The 36-year-old’s contract runs through 2027. But he chose to focus on the Dodgers’ clubhouse instead of discussing his own legacy. 

“We got a good group. We’ve still got a couple of guys on the injured list. We got a bunch of guys that are stepping up,” Freddie said. “Overall, it’s just a bunch of guys that are grinding together and stacking some wins right now.”

Freeman credited the guys for the series win at Minnesota. That was an important win for the Dodgers since they had just lost their fifth series in the season with a tough defeat in the final game (12-1) against the Baltimore Orioles. That didn’t hurt them much, as the Dodgers are still atop the NL West with the highest win percentage in MLB. 

While Freeman preferred discussing team success over personal milestones, questions about his long-term future have followed him throughout the season.

Freeman’s retirement outlook has gone through some recent changes

Freddie and his wife welcomed their four child and first daughter, Chelsea, in April. And it forced him to change his outlook on his retirement plan. He admitted to Ken Rosenthal that having a daughter revised his perspective on the individual stats. 

“I don’t like seeing my daughter grow up on a FaceTime call,” Freeman added. “When I’m sitting in a hotel room by myself at night after a game, I’m just like, Oh man, what am I doing?”

That was before he reached the 2,500-hit mark. And after he did, he admitted he would like to hit 3k but doubted he would. The Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, somewhat challenged him to achieve the feat. 

“You’d better get 500 more,” Roberts reportedly said. “That’s a challenge, a tall order. But I’m not gonna bet against him.”

But Freeman still wasn’t sure if that was his priority. 

“It’s just hard when you’re seeing her growing up on the phone,” Freeman told the New York Post. “She’s already moved up to bigger diapers, and I didn’t really get to see it. So that’s the hard part … It weighs on my heart.”

We have seen the same dilemma with another LA veteran last month. Miguel Rojas wanted to be a part of the Dodgers’ three-peat and maybe continue another year with the franchise. But being away from his family and doubt over his fitness changed the 37-year-old’s perspectives as well. 

Freeman enters free agency at the end of 2027. With 148 hits per season, he needs at least one more year to reach the 3,000 milestone and then another year to achieve his two-decade MLB career dream. 

While Pedro Martinez says the Hall of Fame is waiting for him, Freddie Freeman is juggling between his own goals and the priorities waiting for him at home.