Freitas’ road to majors paved with 11 minors tours

It was looking like former University of Hawaii catcher David Freitas might have attained the dreaded label of “organization guy.”

That’s what they call pro baseball players no one expects to reach the majors. If they’re lucky, they stick around in the minors a few years, with the bittersweet existence of getting paid to play baseball between long bus rides and watching prospects pass them on their way to the big leagues.

And in Freitas’ case, maybe that should be organizations guy with an “s” when you consider he’s toiled for five of them since he was drafted by the Nationals. That was in the 15th round in 2010, after he helped UH to its last appearance in an NCAA Regional.

Since then, Freitas has compiled a résumé listing 11 minor league teams, from the Vermont Lake Monsters to the Gwinnett Braves. He’s also been a Sun and a Solar Sox, and served a pair of Baysox stints.

In his first couple of years as a pro, Freitas’ ascent was steady through the lower rungs of the Nationals system, and he continued to progress after a trade to the A’s. He made it to Triple-A, one notch below Oakland and the majors, in 2013 at age 24.

But for the next three years Freitas wore out the paths back-and-forth between Double-A and Triple-A with the A’s, Orioles and Cubs organizations.

He was oh-so close for oh-so long.

A catcher with experience and some pop in his bat, Freitas was beginning to resemble a real life version of Crash Davis from the movie “Bull Durham” — destined to spend whatever baseball playing days he had left prepping the Nuke LaLooshes of the world for the big leagues.

But finally, this week, after 2,665 plate appearances in 671 minor league games over the course of eight seasons, Freitas got the call.

He’s now an Atlanta Brave, not a Gwinnett Brave. He plays in the National League, not the International League.

In his big league debut Wednesday, Freitas belted an RBI double and caught seven innings of the Braves’ 6-2 win over the Phillies.

“I always hoped for it,” Freitas told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after his debut. “This is what you want when you sign up at 4 years old for T-ball; this is the end goal.”

Freitas was called up because Tyler Flowers, who was sharing time with Kurt Suzuki from Maui behind the plate, went to the 10-day disabled list with a wrist contusion. The Braves completed a trade with the Angels on Thursday for Tony Sanchez, a nine-year minor leaguer who has also played in 51 MLB games, most recently in 2015.

So there’s no telling now long Freitas will be with the big club.

Suzuki, an 11-year major league veteran and 2014 All-Star with the Twins, was part of that 2012 trade that sent Freitas to the A’s from the Nationals.

“Baseball is a small world,” Freitas said.

Mike Trapasso, his coach at UH, was overjoyed to hear of Freitas’ promotion and successful debut.

“He’s one of those guys who really deserved it,” Trapasso said. “Even though he was with us just one year he made a huge impact. From the time he joined us in the fall you could see he had the work ethic to go with the talent. He was a listener who would look you in the eye and absorb everything.”

Freitas is the third player from Hawaii’s 2010 team to make it to the big leagues, joining St. Louis Cardinals infielders Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia. Freitas batted .292 with 10 homers in 60 games that season at Manoa.

“There were a lot of good offensive catchers through the history of Hawaii baseball, but he was a really good defensive guy, too,” said Harrison Kuroda, a Rainbows pitcher in 2010 who is now a UH baseball TV analyst. “When he came out to the mound and talked mechanics, something he saw, he would nail it. He worked very well with all the pitching staff.”

KHON sportscaster Sam Spangler, also a UH baseball analyst and former batterymate of Freitas, said the ’Bows catcher was always focused.

“His nickname was the Freight Train, and with him it was definitely a one-way path,” Spangler said. “After all those years in the minors a lot of guys would give up, especially with a wife and kid. But he was always very determined.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.