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David Richard Freese (born April 28, 1983) is an American professional baseball third baseman who is a free agent. He began his career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was instrumental during the 2011 postseason, batting .545 with 12 hits in the 2011 National League Championship Series (NLCS). He also set an MLB postseason record of 21 runs batted in (RBI), earning the NLCS MVP Award and World Series MVP Award. In addition, Freese won the Babe Ruth Award, naming him the MVP of the entire 2011 MLB postseason. He later played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 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.〔 The San Diego Padres selected Freese in the ninth round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. Before the 2008 season, the Cardinals acquired him in a trade for Jim Edmonds. He made his MLB debut on Opening Day, 2009, due to an injury to starting third baseman Troy Glaus. 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 RBI during the Cardinals' 2011 World Series championship season. The next season, he batted .293 with 20 home runs and was selected to his first All-Star Game. Freese authored a 20-game hitting streak in 2013 but back injuries limited his effectiveness and the Cardinals traded him to the Angels after the season. ==Early life== Born 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 graduated in 2001 from Lafayette High School in Wildwood. 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.〔 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,〔〔 but he studied computer science at Missouri and was a member of 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. St. Louis Community College is a junior college that participates in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). In one season at St. Louis Community College, Freese hit .396 with 41 runs batted in (RBI) and 10 home runs and was named to the NJCAA 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. Freese was even better in 2006, hitting .414 with a .503 OBP and .661 SLG with 73 runs and 73 RBI in 60 games. He won the SBC batting title and led the conference in RBI. He tied for ninth in Division I in RBI, 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.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Freese」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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