Salvatore Michael Frelick (born April 19, 2000) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

. The Brewers selected Frelick in the first round, with the 15th overall selection, of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was s ...

Amateur career

Frelick grew up in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

and attended Lexington High School, where he played football, hockey and baseball. He was the starting quarterback at Lexington High and was named the Gatorade State Player of the Year as a senior after passing for 30 touchdowns. He committed to play

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, where he was also offered a football scholarship. As a freshman at Boston College, Frelick was named Second Team All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) and to the ACC All-Freshman Team after batting .367 with four home runs, 32 RBIs, 30 runs scored and 18 stolen bases. He batted .241 with 17 runs scored and seven stolen bases in 15 games before his sophomore season was cut short due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As a junior, Frelick batted .359 with a .443 on-base percentage, six home runs, 27 RBIs, and 17 doubles and was named first team All-ACC and the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Professional career

The

selected Frelick in the first round, with the 15th overall selection, of the

. He signed with the Brewers on July 20, 2021, for a $4 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. Frelick was assigned to the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Arizona Complex League Brewers The Arizona Complex League Brewers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Arizona Complex League (ACL) and a Rookie-level affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Phoenix, Arizona, and play their home games at American Family Fi ...

to start his professional career, where he had seven hits over 15 at bats with four runs scored, four RBIs, and three stolen bases in four games before being promoted to the

Low-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for ...

Carolina Mudcats The Carolina Mudcats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and play their home games ...

. He was promoted again to the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a town on the outskirts of Appleton in the Fox Cities, and are nam ...

after batting .437 with 31 hits and one home run in 16 games played in Carolina. He ended the season with Wisconsin batting .167 over 15 games. Frelick began the 2022 season with Wisconsin, where he batted .291 in 21 games before being promoted to the Double-A

Biloxi Shuckers The Biloxi Shuckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Biloxi, Mississippi, and are named in ref ...

. He batted .317 with five home runs, 25 RBIs, and 40 runs scored in 52 games with the Shuckers before being promoted a second time to the Triple-A

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

. Frelick began the 2023 season with Nashville. Following a shoulder injury to Garrett Mitchell, Frelick was expected to have a clearer path to make his Major League debut. However, Frelick suffered a thumb sprain shortly thereafter, and was ruled out for 6-to-8 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair the

ulnar collateral ligament Ulnar collateral ligament (or UCL) may refer to: * Ulnar carpal collateral ligament * Ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) or internal lateral ligament is a thick triangular ligament at the medial aspec ...

in his left thumb on April 25. Once he returned, he played in 40 games for Nashville, hitting .247/.333/.342 with 2 home runs, 18 RBI, and 8 stolen bases. On July 22, 2023, Frelick was selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. Frelick made a sensational major-league debut that same day, to help Brewers beat the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. On offense he hit safely in each of his first three-at bats, including a run-scoring hit to tie the game in the sixth inning. Frelick made multiple acrobatic catches in right field on defense and finally drove in the game-winning run with a

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

in the bottom of the eighth. Frelick nailed his first career homer on July 24, with a game-tying blast to right field in the 6th inning off of

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

starter Graham Ashcraft. In 2024, he batted .259/.320/.335 with two home runs and 32 RBIs in 475 at bats. His average exit velocity of 83.4 mph was the lowest in MLB, his 23.8% softly hit balls were the highest percentage among all MLB batters, and his 18.5% hard hit balls were the lowest percentage among MLB batters, and his .07% barrel percentage was the lowest in MLB. However, Frelick was an exceptional defender in right field, leading all National League outfielders with 15 Defensive Runs Saved, and was awarded the 2024 Rawlings Golden Glove Award for his position.

International career

Frelick played for the

Italy national baseball team The Italy national baseball team represents Italy in international baseball competitions. The Italian national team was ranked WBSC World Rankings, 16th in the world as of 2022. Like the country's Italy national football team, association footba ...

at the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball tournament and the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21. It was originally scheduled to take place in ...

.🖉

References

External links

Boston College Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frelick, Sal 2000 births Living people American people of Italian descent Arizona Complex League Brewers players Baseball players from Boston Biloxi Shuckers players 21st-century American sportsmen Boston College Eagles baseball players Carolina Mudcats players Major League Baseball outfielders Milwaukee Brewers players Nashville Sounds players Sportspeople from Lexington, Massachusetts Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players 2023 World Baseball Classic players Baseball players from Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Amateur career

Professional career

International career

References

Further reading

External links