Kansas City Royals: Eric Hosmer Market Value
By Joel Wagler
Comparing Eric Hosmer to Freddie Freeman
A good comparison for Hosmer is Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves, who is only a month older than the Royals one-bagger. They also have played in close to the same number of games, though Hosmer has 22 more.
Over the same past three seasons, Freeman has shown significantly more power but has missed a lot more games due to injury. His 162-game averages look like this:
- 44 Doubles
- 34 Home Runs
- 104 Runs
- 98 Runs Batted In
- .300/.396/.553/.949
Hosmer has 460 games in that period and Freeman 375.
As you can see, Freeman’s power numbers are quite a bit stronger than Hosmer’s. In 2014, the Braves signed Freeman to an eight-year, $135 million deal, averaging nearly $17 million a year, according to Spotrac.
Hosmer is more established now than what Freeman was at the time, but Freeman was already displaying the ability to hit over 20 homers consistently.
Hosmer is clearly the better defender, right? Despite winning three Gold Gloves, defensive metrics have not been kind to him. In his career, Hosmer has a minus 28.9 Ultimate Zone Rating for his career and has only earned a positive rating twice in his career, according to Fangraphs. His Defensive Runs Saved for his career is minus 19.
Again according to Fangraphs, Freeman grades out as a better defensive player. He has a career UZR of minus .2, and his DFS is at 11. Both of those numbers are considerably better than Hosmer’s.
Freeman has a career Wins Above Replacement of 25.2 and Hosmer’s sits at 9.9.
When Freeman signed his contract, the market was a bit different but there is no doubt statistically he is the better overall player. Should Hosmer earn a significantly higher yearly salary? Probably not.