Freddie Freeman: “I think [Miller Park is] a bad-lit Little League field.”

By Apr 30, 2017, 5:10 PM EDT
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Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman is happy his Braves will be leaving Miller Park on Sunday. Despite batting .250/.338/.531 with five home runs in 74 career plate appearances at Miller Park, Freeman is not a fan of the ballpark, calling it a “bad-lit Little League field,” ESPN reports. “I can’t see anything here,” Freeman added.

Freeman continued:

I’m just glad it’s three games and out. I don’t see the ball well, at all. I don’t understand that [lighting problem]. Arizona’s [lighting in a retractable dome] is great. I feel like Little League fields are lit better than this. Obviously they have no problem because their guys are hitting. I guess you get used to it. Our lights at SunTrust [Park] are awesome. Turner Field was a little dark. …

It just seems like I can never barrel balls up here [at Miller Park] consistently. It’s like seeing dark balls coming in.

As ESPN points out, Freeman has enjoyed success particularly recently at Miller Park, entering Sunday with a .391 batting average there over the past two seasons.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
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Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”