Freeman might miss some games in the first week of the Cactus League schedule, but told reporters at Camelback Ranch on Saturday he is “perfectly on track” to play opening day on March 18 in Tokyo.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is working his way back from right ankle surgery, and took batting practice for the first time this spring on Saturday.
Freddie Freeman taking some BP swings: pic.twitter.com/7YSaU5lfv4
— Sonja Chen (@SonjaMChen) February 15, 2025
“I wasn’t supposed to swing today, but I swung,” Freeman said, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com. “I couldn’t help myself.”
Freeman also took ground balls on Saturday, which was the first official full-squad workout for the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch.
From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:
“I did everything except for running,” he said. “I’m currently at 80 percent of my weight on the boost treadmill. I think I have four more days of that, getting closer to 100 percent of my body weight. So I’m shooting for outdoor running middle of next week.”
Freeman sprained his right ankle during the final week of the regular season, which limited him during the first two rounds of the postseason. He recovered, famously so, enough to win World Series MVP, thanks to homering in each of the first four games of the series.
He had surgery on the right ankle in December, and during the Dodgers’ fan fest on February 1 revealed that procedure involved removing loose cartilage and bone spurs.
On Saturday at Camelback Ranch, Freeman told reporters he was “perfectly on track” to be ready for the Dodgers’ regular season opener on March 18 against the Cubs in Tokyo.
From Chen at MLB.com:
While Freeman is expected to miss some early Cactus League action, both he and the Dodgers are optimistic that he’ll be able to play in spring games around the end of the month. If anything, the team may have to hold Freeman back from testing his ankle too rigorously.
“We’ll manage it in Spring Training,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But we saw that leg-out triple against the Padres in the Division Series, so once he’s playing, he sort of does his thing.”