Indians rookie thinks he can beat 'The Freeze' in a footrace

A new challenger approaches! Cleveland Indians rookie outfielder Bradley Zimmer has seen Atlanta Braves racing mascot “The Freeze” leave others in the dust, but he’s not impressed. In fact, Zimmer thinks he could take down “The Freeze” in a footrace.

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The rivalry has been building for a few weeks now, and Zimmer made his thoughts clear during an interview with MLB Network Radio.

At around the 1:10 minute mark in that video, Zimmer discusses how his desire to race “The Freeze” began. He was talking trash to teammate Francisco Lindor about his speed, and mentioned he would love to take on “The Freeze.” Lindor disagreed, according to Zimmer, saying he “would get smoked.”

Zimmer was further emboldened after Major League Baseball released a new Statcast metric claiming he was the fastest player on Cleveland. According to Sprint Speed, Zimmer is actually the third-fastest player in MLB, behind Billy Hamilton and Byron Buxton.

While Zimmer’s challenge is making the rounds now, his feud with “The Freeze” has been going on for a couple weeks. The Indians official Twitter account mentioned they believed Zimmer could beat the mascot without a head start. That started a back-and-forth between Zimmer and “The Freeze.”

There are a few entertaining exchanges in the thread, but the photoshopped picture of Zimmer beating “The Freeze” while pulling a weight sled is our favorite.

Does Zimmer actually have a shot at taking down “The Freeze?” While we would love to say “heck yeah,” we just can’t do it. That’s because “The Freeze” is … actually, this could be a spoiler. If you don’t want to know “The Freeze’s” alter-ego, skip the next few sentences.

“The Freeze” is a competitive runner named Nigel Talton who works as part of the Braves’ grounds crew. He once ran a 4.28-second 40-yard dash.

Considering that, we can’t say we love Zimmer’s chances. With a head start, maybe he could do it. In a straight race, we have to agree with Lindor’s assessment.

At the very least, Zimmer’s declaration gave us something fun to ponder. Does Zimmer have a better shot of beating “The Freeze” in a race, or beating Aaron Judge for the 2017 Rookie of the Year award? We realize both are highly unlikely, but if you had to make a wager, what do you say?

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik