Alex Freeland

With Dalton Rushing returning from the injured list on Friday, someone needed to get the boot from the team’s bench to make room and unfortunately Freeland pulled the short straw this time around. The 25-year-old infielder has slashed .234/.327/.325 with four homers, 21 RBI and four stolen bases in 269 plate appearances with the Dodgers on the season.

Since rejoining the Dodgers on Sept. 1, Freeland has been a lineup fixture against righties and is batting .258/.379/.419. He might be forced back into a bench role if Andy Pages makes it back.

It looks like Tommy Edman is going to see more time in center field with Alek Thomas being demoted, so Freeland could play a fair amount of second base. He’s hit .231/.309/.313 in 223 plate appearances for the Dodgers this season. He wasn’t great in Triple-A of late, either, batting .248/.350/.347 for Oklahoma City in August.

With rosters expanding today, the Dodgers will call up Freeland to give them more depth across the infield. The 25-year-old was hitting .231/.309/.313 with three home runs and a 30.5 percent strikeout rate in 223 plate appearances for the Dodgers this season.

Freeland heads back to the minors with Enrique Hernández returning from the injured list for Tuesday’s game against the Mariners. The 24-year-old youngster last started a game for the Dodgers back on July 7. He’s been a non-factor for fantasy purposes as a seldom utilized bench player.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated that Freeland will receive more playing time than Hyeseong Kim while both are on the active roster. The 24-year-old infielder is back with Los Angeles after Enrique Hernández hit the injured list with a significant tear in his oblique muscle. He’s hit .235 (23-for-98) with two homers and eight RBI in 112 plate appearances over 33 games in the big leagues this season.

With Mookie Betts (oblique) off the injured list, the Dodgers needed to make a move. This comes as a bit of a surprise since Freeland has been playing mostly second base with Betts sidelined, while Hyeseong Kim has been at shortstop. It seems that the Dodgers will move Kim over to second base when Betts returns. Kim has been hitting better, slashing .289/.353/.395 in 29 games with one home run, eight RBI, and five steals. He should remain deep league relevant if he continues to get starts.

Hitting one spot ahead of him, Hyeseong Kim reached on catcher’s interference once but struck out his other three times up. One of Freeland or Kim will head back to Triple-A on Monday when Mookie Betts comes off the IL. Kim has a 102-point advantage in OPS right now, so he might be the better bet to stay. However, the one kept now still figures to lose his spot to Enrique Hernández before too long.

Freeland also singled twice and drew a walk for good measure. He’s gone deep twice in the first 35 games of the season while driving in just his seventh run in the process. There’s some long-term upside in Freeland’s bat, but even in the loaded Dodgers’ lineup, he does not appear to be ready to be a redraft fantasy contributor just yet.

Hyeseong Kim and Freeland scored all four runs in Tuesday’s win, which is just how the Dodgers drew it up in January. Freeland was 3-for-24 coming into tonight, but his EV numbers were already quite good. There’s little reason to pick him up in mixed leagues at the moment, but he might well turn into a quality starting second baseman in time.

Freeland makes just his second start of the season with Miguel Rojas getting the night off. The 24-year-old infielder is serving as Los Angeles’ de-facto utility specialist while Tommy Edman (ankle) continues recovering from offseason surgery.

Freeland figures to start against most righties, but Rojas got the Opening Day assignment versus Zac Gallen to start off what’s slated to be his final season in the majors. Both Freeland and Rojas are expected to bat ninth when they’re in the lineup, and that is the case for Freeland tonight.

The final spot on the Dodgers looks like it’s coming down to Freeland and Hyeseong Kim, who had an RBI single in four at-bats today. Kim has been quite a bit more productive this spring (.967 OPS to .519), but if the Dodgers were sold on him, this wouldn’t even be a contest. The winner figures to share time at second base with Miguel Rojas and Santiago Espinal until Tommy Edman returns.

Freeland had a nice opportunity this spring with Tommy Edman out and Hyeseong Kim away. but after reaching on five-of-six plate appearances in his first two games, he’s gone 3-for-35 in his last 14 games. It seems like a given he’ll be opening up in Triple-A.

The Dodgers will probably go with Hyeseong Kim and Miguel Rojas at second initially, but Freeland could sneak into the mix by outplaying Kim this spring. He’s reached in five of his six plate appearances, having walked four times in two games. Obviously, some of that is facing minor league pitchers, but the walk is a big part of his game; he drew 83 in 508 plate appearances in Triple-A last year and 91 in 615 plate appearances at three levels in 2024.