2005 Wellesley High Graduate, and before that Wellesley Little League player, Nate Freiman cracked the Major Leagues in March 2013 as a right-handed first baseman for the Oakland A’s. He made his debut on April 3, 2013, and had a hit in his first at-bat, going 2 for 3 in the game with a RBI and nice catch. According to this list of Oakland Athletics salaries, Freiman was making the paltry major league minimum: $490K a year.

The A’s released Freiman in late 2015, the Atlanta Braves picked him up. They then dealt him to the Washington Nationals, who released him in the spring of 2016. The Long Island Ducks, unaffiliated with Major League Baseball, signed him, and then the Boston Red Sox signed him to a minor league deal in May 2016.

We helped arrange for a crew of Wellesley Little League players and parents to interview Freiman upon his first time playing at Fenway, and here’s what they came up with.

It’s been a long, twisting road to the majors for the 6-foot 8-inch Freiman, who starred at Duke University as a first baseman after hurting his arm and switching from pitching, which he as known for in high school. The Texas Rangers drafted Freiman in 2008 when he was a junior at Duke, but he did not sign with the Rangers and stayed in school.

The San Diego Padres drafted him the next year and he did head into their system after graduating from Duke as the school’s all-time home run leader and top batting average hitter.

Freiman spent the next 4 years in the minor leagues with teams such as the Fort Wayne Tincaps and San Antonio Missions, especially grabbing attention during 2012 with a powerful season for the Double AA Missions and a 4-homer performance for Israel in the World Baseball Classic qualifiers.