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Alden Gonzalez
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said he is “perfectly on track” for the team’s season opener despite offseason ankle surgery. Freeman ran at 80 percent of his body weight on a microgravity treadmill during the Dodgers’ first full-squad workout Saturday and also took some swings in a live batting practice session, even though he wasn’t supposed to.
“I couldn’t help myself,” Freeman said with a smile.
Freeman spent most of October playing through significant pain in his right ankle. But most of it subsided by the World Series, which made him believe rest and physical therapy would heal it without medical intervention. But the swelling persisted through Thanksgiving, prompting an MRI that determined surgery was required.
Previously torn ligaments healed enough that they didn’t need to be repaired, but Dr. Kenneth Jung had to shave bone spurs and remove a part of Freeman’s cartilage that had floated to the area of his Achilles tendon. Eight weeks after the procedure, near the end of January, Freeman began to hit. The Dodgers’ 35-year-old first baseman has been hitting every day since arriving at Camelback Ranch on Monday. He hopes to run at full strength by the middle of next week and play in Cactus League games, at least as a designated hitter, by the end of February.
Freeman typically likes to have around 50 plate appearances before feeling ready for a season. His later start — and the Dodgers beginning their season in Japan on March 18, more than a week earlier than 28 other teams — could make it difficult to reach that number, but Freeman can get additional at-bats in the backfields of the team’s complex.
Freeman also played through issues on his right side after breaking the costal cartilage in his sixth rib on the eve of the playoffs, an injury that typically sidelines players for months. But that ailment also began to feel better by the World Series and did not require additional maintenance over the winter, he said. The jammed middle finger that gave him problems during the stretch run of the regular season has also fully healed.
Freeman’s improved health was obvious at the start of the final round of last year’s postseason. He delivered a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series, then homered in each of the next three contests, helping the Dodgers clinch their first full-season championship since 1988 and providing a storybook ending to a tumultuous season that included one of his young sons overcoming Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Freeman has been constantly hearing about his iconic home run, most notably through fans tattooing the image onto their bodies. Near Christmas, he and his oldest son, Charlie, went down what he called a “rabbit hole” on YouTube to relive the moment. In the process, Charlie learned about Kirk Gibson, who pulled off a similar feat 36 years earlier.
But Freeman is ready to move on now.
More specifically, he’s focused on his yearly goal of playing every game, regardless of all that ailed him last season.
“The goal is 162,” he said. “Hopefully, it’s 161 because I always take the game off after we win the division.”