On December 22, 2012, Freel committed suicide, and was subsequently the first MLB player to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

[1][2] Freel attended Tallahassee Community College and was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1994 amateur entry draft, but did not sign.

He only played in 9 games for the Blue Jays in his rookie year, hitting .273 with 0 home runs, 3 RBI and 2 stolen bases.

Freel played the entire 2002 season in the minor leagues with the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Devil Rays.

On December 9, 2008, Freel was traded along with two minor leaguers including Justin Turner to the Baltimore Orioles for catcher Ramón Hernández.

On July 6, 2009, Freel was dealt accompanied by cash considerations to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later.

[7] Post retirement, Freel founded Big League Development Baseball Inc (BLD)[8] and went on to coach the 11U team to Cooperstown.

On July 3, 2007, 1 month and 5 days after the accident, Freel returned to play for the Cincinnati Reds and was healthy until being placed on the 15-day DL with torn cartilage in his right knee on August 7.

"[13] Freel later said that Farney's name arose from a conversation with Reds trainer Mark Mann: "He actually made a comment like, 'How are the voices in your head?'

[15] After his death, Freel's family donated his brain to Boston University for research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative neurological condition associated with repeated head impacts that can only be conclusively diagnosed post-mortem.

[16] In December 2013, a post-mortem examination by the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy showed that he had had Stage II CTE,[17] making him the first MLB player to have been diagnosed with such a condition.