This time last year, Freddie Freeman was a 21-year-old rookie who was being handed his first big league job.
Questions abounded, but the Braves quickly anointed Freeman as their starting first baseman and stuck with him through his April struggles.
By the end of May, the club knew it didn't have to worry about the big guy at first.
Freeman rarely struggled after that and finished behind teammate Craig Kimbrel in the NL Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .282 with 21 home runs and 76 RBIs. Freeman stayed healthy – he played 157 games, second to Dan Uggla's 161 -- and consistent at the plate. His impressive .346 on-base percentage, trailed only Brian McCann's .351.
And even though Freeman struck out 142 times on a team that featured three players with more than 125 and three more who struck out at least 80 times, he used his ability to spray hits from foul line to foul line to sidestep any prolonged slumps.
Blessed with what Chipper Jones calls “a versatile swing,” Freeman can fight off pitches or punch them into the opposite field for hits, something not usually expected from a guy who is 6 feet 5.
His swing is distinctly different than teammate's Jason Heyward, whose powerful pull approach lends itself to majestic home runs, but also deep and drastic slumps.
That's what happened last year, when injuries resulted in wacky mechanics and a dramatic drop from Heyward's rookie numbers.
Jones doesn't see that happening to Freeman, unless like Heyward, injuries make him compensate and send him searching for something that works. And new hitting coach Greg Walker doesn't plan on messing with Freeman.
"Greg hasn't changed anything, really," Freeman told the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times-Free Press last week. "And he's told me he won't change anything until he thinks something needs to be changed, until it's clear something I'm doing right now isn't working."
With the defection of Albert Pujols to the Los Angeles Angels and Prince Fielder to the Detroit Tigers, most of baseball's top first basemen are in the American League.
That means Freeman enters this spring as perhaps the second-best first baseman in the NL, behind Cincinnati's Joey Votto.
Think about it.
• Philadelphia's Ryan Howard could miss a big chunk of the year coming back from a torn Achilles.
• Lance Berkman had a remarkable comeback in St. Louis, but can he do it again? And for a entire season without Pujols in the lineup?
• Washington's Michael Morse is a converted outfielder who can bash, but is awkward around the bag.
• Miami's Gaby Sanchez faded in the second half in 2011.
• Houston's Carlos Lee doesn't move well.
• Los Angeles' James Loney is consistent, but appears to have reached his ceiling.
• New York's Ike Davis is coming back from an injury that caused him to miss most of last season and isn't assured of a starting spot with Lucas Duda in the mix.
Other teams are either banking on youngsters like Paul Goldschmidt in Arizona, or might have to go with some type of rotation like Brandon Belt and Aubrey Huff in San Francisco or Michael Cuddyer and Todd Helton in Colorado.
So in the span of a year, Freeman has gone from an experiment to experienced.
It's been reported that he's added 15 pounds of muscle to a frame that carried 225 pounds last year, when he became the first Braves rookie to reach 20 home runs since Jones in 1995.
The added strength will serve him well as the Braves search more power and protection for Uggla and McCann. Freeman likely will hit sixth or seventh, but his position in the lineup could change depending on his production, who's playing elsewhere and who's pitching.
That should be the only question surrounding Freeman this year.
