VIDEO: Freddie Freeman Gets Emotional Discussing Astros Scandal and Impact on Former Teammate Kris Medlen
By Evan Wolff
What seems to be lost in the Astros scandal is how deep the effects of their cheating went. It was more than just securing an advantage and winning a championship. The cheating also cost some people their jobs, which is what Atlanta Braves star Freddie Freeman emotionally described to a fan on Saturday at ChopFest. Freeman's former teammate Kris Medlen retired after getting shelled by the Astros for seven earned runs in 2018 as he was making his comeback to the mound.
Freddie Freeman gets emotional responding to a question about #Astros scandal. He brought up how it impacted pitchers like former teammate Kris Medlen who worked hard to get back to the majors #braves #chopfest pic.twitter.com/4UmYmAdngs
— Courtney ?? Martinez (@sportsbycourt) January 25, 2020
Medlen missed all of 2014 and all of 2017 with injuries and made just 21 appearances in 2015 and 2016 combined due to those issues. Nonetheless, he continued to work hard and landed himself a deal with the Diamondbacks in 2018 only to suffer from that bad outing.
And for those who say “it should have stayed in the clubhouse and Fiers is a rat”....
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) January 25, 2020
Braves Freddie Freeman gets emotional when talking about his friend Kris Medlen who didn’t cheat & tried to get those guys out https://t.co/0G0ccZgY9N
Players are going to be upset about what the Astros did for a very long time. Not only will the stain of what they did live on in the record books through the MVP awarded to Jose Altuve and the 2017 World Series victory, now we have accounts in which it's likely possible someone's career was drastically altered in a negative way by this.
A soft-spoken guy, especially one of Freeman's caliber, showing emotion like this in a public setting tells us how much this scandal has affected the entire MLB.