David Richard Freese (born April 28, 1983) is a third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. A star high school player, Freese opted not to play college baseball in his freshman year, returning to baseball after a year away from the game. With the Cardinals, Freese was named the 2011 National League Championship Series MVP.

Early life

Though born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Freese was raised in the Greater St. Louis area and he grew up a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. He graduated from Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri, in 2001. Freese recorded a .533batting average with a total of 23 home runs during his senior season, which remains a Lafayette record. He was considered to be the best shortstop in the state.

Freese was offered a baseball scholarship to play college baseball for the Missouri Tigers baseball team. However, during his senior season at Lafayette High School, he decided to quit baseball. He felt burned out on the sport and opted not to take a baseball scholarship. He enrolled at the University of Missouri, where he studied computer science and pledged Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Following his freshman year at Missouri, Freese worked for the Rockwood School District maintenance department for the summer. When he visited Lafayette High School towards the end of the summer, he realized how much he missed baseball. Freese contacted Tony Dattoli, the coach at St. Louis Community College–Meramec, to ask for a roster spot.

After a season at St. Louis Community College, Dattoli recommended Freese to Steve Kittrell, the head coach of the University of South Alabama Jaguars. At South Alabama, opposing teams respected his hitting ability, with scouts telling their pitchers: "Don't let Freese beat us." In 2005 as a junior, 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 also led the conference in RBI. He tied for 9th in NCAA 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 andPedro 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.

Baseball career

Minor leagues: 2006–2008

Freese was drafted by the San Diego Padres in ninth round (273rd overall) of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. Freese played for the Eugene Emeralds, Fort Wayne Wizards and Lake Elsinore Storm in the San Diego farm system in 2006 and 2007. He batted .379/.465/.776 with 19 runs and 26 RBI in 18 games for the Emeralds and .299/.374/.510 with 44 RBI in 53 games for the Wizards in 2006. Freese batted .302/.400/.489 for the Storm in 128 games during the 2007 season. He scored 104 runs and drove in 96. He ranked seventh in the California League in OBP, seventh in RBI and tied with Tony Granadillo for third in runs. He made the California League All-Star team. However, the Padres had third basemen Chase Headley and Kevin Kouzmanoff in the organization as well, potentially blocking Freese's path to the majors. As a result, Freese began to practice as a catcher.

Prior to the 2008 season, Freese was traded by the Padres to the Cardinals for Jim Edmonds. He spent the 2008 season in Triple-A with the Memphis Redbirds, where he batted .306/.361/.550 with 26 home runs and 91 RBI. He led Pacific Coast League third basemen in fielding percentage (.967) and double plays (26).

Early MLB career: 2009–2010

With Cardinals starting third baseman Troy Glaus expected to begin the 2009 season on the disabled list, Freese emerged as a potential starter. Freese made his Major League debut on Opening Day of the 2009 season, coming off the bench and hitting a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the Cardinals' home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Freese was expected to be the team's starting third baseman, but was quickly passed over by Brian Barden and Joe Thurston. He was optioned to Triple-A Memphis on April 20, 2009 to make room for newly acquired reliever Blaine Boyer. He later had surgery to repair a left ankle injury that hampered him during spring training. He was activated and assigned to Double-A Springfield in late July with plans to later assign him to Memphis. He was recalled in the September call-up on September 23, 2009. Freese played only 17 games for the Cardinals in 2009, in addition to 56 games for Triple-A Memphis.

Freese began the 2010 season as the Cardinals' starting third baseman. However, he suffered a right ankle injury in June. This injury required him to have two ankle surgeries and subsequently ended his season after 70 games.

Breakout season: 2011

In his first playoff series, he drove in 4 runs against Philadelphia in Game 4 to force a fifth game. In the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against Milwaukee, Freese had a .545 batting average, hit 3 home runs, drove in 9 runs, and scored 7 runs. He was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player. Through Game 3 of the World Series against Texas, Freese had a 13-game postseason hitting streak, a Cardinals record and just two short of matching the all-time National League record. The hitting streak was snapped in Game 4.

In Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, with Texas leading, 3 games to 2, Freese came to bat in the bottom of the ninth, with two out and two men on base. With a count of one ball and two strikes, Freese hit a two-run triple to tie the game and send it to extra innings. In the eleventh inning, Freese then hit a game-winning lead-off, "walk-off", solo home-run to deep center field, to send the World Series to its first Game 7 since 2002.