In 2013, baseball writer Tim Brown wrote of his 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) frame, "Near as anyone can tell, there's never been a taller major-league position player than Freiman.

"[1] Freiman holds Duke University's career home run record, and the school's second-highest all-time batting average.

[1] His younger brother, Eli, was preparing for medical board examinations as Nate was starting his major league career early in the 2013 season.

[1][7] Freiman grew up in the college town of Wellesley, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Boston, where he was also taught AP Physics by Michael Krieger in his senior year, and his ability to throw an egg at high speed towards a blanket was recognized by the teacher.

He was both a pitcher and a slugging catcher for the Wellesley High School baseball team for four years, graduating in 2005.

[4][10][12] Freiman was the best player in Massachusetts in his final two years: MVP of the Bay State Conference as a junior and senior, winner of the Division 2 Baseball Player of the Year Award as a junior and senior, and winner of the state's Gatorade Player of the Year and ranked by Perfect Game USA as the top high school prospect in Massachusetts as a senior.

[4][10][12][18] Freiman attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, graduating in 2009 with a baccalaureate degree as a history major and a mathematics minor.

[4] In 2006, his freshman year, Freiman injured his throwing arm in the first inning of his only start on the mound, ending his pitching aspirations.

[10][24][25][26] He also led Duke in homers, batting average (.352) and RBIs (62) for the third straight year, earning second-team All-ACC honors.

[2][28][36] Freiman played for the San Antonio Missions of the Double–A Texas League in 2012, leading the league in RBIs (105; the highest total among all minor leaguers in the Padres system) and hits (154) and finishing second in extra-base hits (56) and total bases (259), third in home runs (24), fourth in doubles (31) and fifth in slugging percentage (.502).

[25] Through 2012, in his first four minor league seasons Freiman batted .294 with 71 home runs and 368 RBI in 483 games, averaging 23 homers and 108 RBIs the last two years.

[43] Randy Smith, the Padres' vice president of player development and international scouting, said, "This is a guy who hits the ball as hard as anyone.

"[44] Notwithstanding all this, he was blocked from advancing to the major league Padres by their regular first baseman Yonder Alonso.

[41][47] Kevin Goldstein, the Astros’ director of pro scouting, observed, "He destroys left-handed pitching.

[49] As late as March 22, Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle thought there was a strong chance he would make the team's opening day roster.

[50] Although the Astros initially planned to include Freiman on their 2013 major league team, they ran into a logjam at first base.

[58] Freiman was voted American League Rookie of the Month for May 2013, after batting .351 (13-for-37) with 3 doubles, 1 home run, and 9 RBIs in 14 games, as among A.L.

[60] In 2014, the A's invited Freiman to their major league camp in spring training to compete with Daric Barton and others for a spot on their 25-man roster.

Freiman was called up to the A's on June 29, 2014, after leading the Pacific Coast League to that point in RBIs, and tying for seventh in home runs.

[67] On April 30, 2016, Freiman signed with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

[62] On May 10, 2016, the Red Sox signed Freiman to a minor league contract and assigned him to the Double–A Portland Sea Dogs.

[69] Later that month he left the Ducks, for whom he was batting .250 with four home runs and six RBI, to play in the Mexican League.

Freiman announced his retirement from professional baseball at the age of 31 on March 10, 2018, and said he would be studying for an MBA at Duke University.

[79] Israel lost to Spain in extra innings in the pool finals, just missing making the World Baseball Classic.

"[9] Freiman again played for Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier,[80] batting third in all three games.

[84] Freiman played first base for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic in the main tournament, in March 2017.

[85] In what NBC reported was thought to be the tallest batter-pitcher matchup in baseball history, the 6-foot-8-inch (2.03 m) Freiman walked against the 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) pitcher Loek van Mil of the Netherlands during the first round.

[87] Freiman wrote an article describing his experiences on Team Israel, entitled "The Mensches of March.

The two were Duke's ACC Senior Male and Female Athletes of the Year in 2009,[30] and Blumenherst had won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 2008.

"[25] In August 2013, at the age of 26 and eight months after being married, Blumenherst announced that she would take a leave from professional golf to spend more time with her husband.