Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is getting real about his “trying” year as 3-year-old son Max’s health battle continues.
“Every day it’s a mental grind,” Freddie, 35, told The New York Times in an interview published on Thursday, October 3. “I’m mentally exhausted. It’s not just [Max] getting better. There’s so much more that goes into something like this. I could tell you I need more than three days. I could probably tell you I’d need the rest of my life to [reset].”
Freddie’s wife, Chelsea Freeman, rushed Max to the hospital in July after he couldn’t stand or walk. The toddler was eventually diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. (Along with Max, the couple are also parents to Charlie, 8, and Brandon, 3.)
Amid his son’s health struggle, Freddie was injured in an August game between the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. The first baseman fractured his finger, and manager Dave Roberts begged Freddie to take a break.
“Obviously I pushed back and said I don’t need it,” Freddie recalled in his NYT profile. “Even though I pushed back, he still had other paths to go down to make me realize that, hey, it’s not just that you’ve been grinding hard, it’s been a long couple of months. Let’s do this.”
The “person” Freddie needed a break — which is what led the athlete to agree.
“I didn’t know I needed it that much,” Freddie said. “But [I] definitely needed it.”
Max attended his first Dodgers game following his hospitalization on September 9. The team, and parts of Dodgers Stadium, were decked out with the slogan #MaxStrong. The night served as a way to honor the medical staff who treated Max during his hospital stay.
“It was an amazing night,” Freddie told NYT about the game, in which the Dodgers beat the Cleveland Guardians.
As for a health update on Max, the athlete shared a video of the toddler learning how to walk again on September 26.
“The best day 🥹!!!” read the post’s caption. Set to a cover of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” the video showed Max walking into Chelsea’s arms with a huge smile on his face. A separate clip showed Max walking around the bases at Dodgers Stadium with his dad in tow.
“A lot of learning this year,” Freddie shared during Thursday’s interview. But after the Dodgers became the National League West champions and his son is getting better, the MLB star declared that “things are OK.”
