'He's Got the "It" Factor': Sal Frelick's Improbable Home Run Keys Another Comeback Postseason Win

Pat Murphy loves players who do the little things well. He respects the underdog. He admires the guy who isn’t the most physically gifted, but pours every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into every pitch to maximize his success. Sal Frelick is the quintessential Pat Murphy Guy. He’s been a productive big-leaguer when everything clicks, but he has real physical limitations. At 5-foot-9, Frelick isn’t the biggest guy. He’s not the strongest guy, posting the eighth-lowest hard-hit rate among qualified hitters since his debut in 2023. This season, he wasn’t the healthiest guy, playing through and eventually spending a month on the injured list with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. The result was a career-worst campaign: Frelick hit just .230/.295/.319 (72 wRC+) and was worth -0.5 fWAR.

But Frelick has produced before, and he has the intangibles Murphy prizes. He’s scrappy, gritty, and an emerging clubhouse leader—words that can be vapid cliches, but aren't, here. Before Game 2 of the World Series, the manager reiterated his belief that Frelick brings more to the table than his slash line or physical tools indicate.

“He’s just the ultimate competitor, winner,” Murphy said. “He’s got the ‘it’ factor. You think of Joe Montana. You think of people that have—Larry Bird—that have the ‘it’ factor. I’m not saying he’s at that level of talent or has been in a position to do those things, but he has that ‘it’ factor. He can take a team down the field.”

A few hours later, Frelick delivered perhaps the biggest swing of his life in another comeback postseason win, hitting a game-tying homer off Rays left-hander Ian Seymour in the bottom of the sixth inning. He torched the ball all night. For the first time this season and the third time in his career, he hit four batted balls over 95 mph in a game.

“He hit four lasers tonight,” Murphy said. “He hit four balls right on the screws.”

That sixth-inning laser erased an early 4-0 deficit after a shaky first inning that featured Cooper Pratt’s fourth postseason error and another wobbly start by Logan Henderson. It was just Frelick’s fourth career home run against a southpaw, including postseason games. He takes a slightly different approach against them, and has usually reserved his power-oriented swings for matchups where he has the platoon advantage.

Seymour posted reverse splits this year, but the Rays have used him as a situational lefty in the postseason, including on Saturday night. He has weapons to retire left-handers, including a running two-seamer and a sweeper with plenty of horizontal movement in opposite directions. That’s what Frelick expected to see when he stepped into the box.

On the first pitch, Seymour threw a sinker over the inner third for strike one. He never went to the sweeper, instead alternating sinkers and four-seamers for most of the at-bat. All nine pitches were fastballs (Rays manager Kevin Cash admitted he felt Seymour was “stubborn” in not mixing things up), and Frelick kept spoiling them.

“He’s pretty much a sinker guy,” Frelick said. “Was fouling them off, missed a few good ones, and then late in the at-bat, he started throwing four-seams and kind of took me by surprise. Was able to spoil a few of those and was just really hoping, because I had seen the sinker earlier, that he would maybe leave one over the plate.”

On pitches seven and eight, Frelick fouled off fastballs that nicked the inside corner. At that point, he was prepared to turn on velocity that leaked a little further over the plate.

“Didn’t sell for it, but I just thought, ‘If he executes a good slider here, I’ll try to fight it off,’” Frelick said. “I’m an eight-hole hitter, I’m a lefty, and you assume a guy like that is coming at you.”

He got his mistake. Seymour’s ninth pitch was another four-seamer closer to the middle of the zone. Frelick, whose average bat speed of 68.3 mph ranks near the bottom of hitters, unleashed a 75.7-mph swing. He was right on time with enough authority, launching that fastball to center field to bring the Brewers all the way back.

The next inning, Pratt redeemed himself with a two-strike single to drive in the winning run. Aaron Ashby continued his yeoman’s work out of the bullpen with another multi-inning save, bringing Milwaukee within two wins of its first World Series championship.

This is the formula that’s gotten the Brewers this far against great October pitching: wear them down with long, disciplined plate appearances, then pounce on the inevitable mistake pitch. This team keeps coming back because it’s developed the right blend of scrappiness and timely power.

“Our offense is built to kind of chip away and wear on pitchers, which I think can be good when you’re trying to come back,” Frelick said. “At the same time, if we’re up, it’s the same exact approach. I think just having an offense built like that is really good for when you’re down.”

Usually, Frelick does the scrapping to set up that big swing. This time, he supplied the power. After a rough regular season, he’s rewarded Murphy’s loyalty and belief, hitting .273/.370/.409 (118 wRC+).

“We talked about it when you guys were all here earlier,” Murphy said postgame. “He’s got the ‘it’ factor.”

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