GLENDALE, Ariz. – When it comes to the Dodgers’ everyday lineup, there seems to be just one thing 2B determined – second base.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Monday that Tommy Edman will open the season on the Injured List following ankle surgery last fall.
“He took some swings the other day, from both sides. Did some skipping, some light jogging, I think it was. Getting his body in shape,” Roberts said.
“I think just looking at where his ankle is at, trying to play the long view that you don’t want any regression or setbacks. Then how can we be methodical with it. Just for me, knowing that he’s just taking swings, isn’t up to full speed, that takes a lot to get your body into baseball shape. We’re not going to rush it, want to put him in the best position.”
Edman said his focus has been on making progress in each step of his recovery and less so on a specific return date.
“Opening Day was going to be a really aggressive goal just in case it happened to be like, we recover faster than we expected it to,” Edman said. “I think everything is, based on past instances with this kind of surgery, I’ve hit every checkpoint along the way in terms of being 12 weeks, I’m at this point, at 14 weeks, I’m trying to get to this point. So I feel like I’m on schedule with that and just kind of see how it goes with each step along the way.”
With Edman unavailable at the start of the season, playing time at second base will be available. Roberts mentioned Miguel Rojas, Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland as potential options.
He also mentioned Santiago Espinal. The veteran utilityman just agreed to a minor-league contract with a non-roster invitation to big-league camp. Espinal is a career .261 hitter over parts of six big-league seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.
Perhaps more importantly, Espinal is a right-handed hitter (like Rojas), balancing off the left-handed Kim and the switch-hitting Freeland whose weak side is from the right.
Kim would be the most natural replacement because he would also be able to serve as a backup for Andy Pages in center field, a position Kim said he was “aware” he would need to work on heading into this season.
A perennial All-Star infielder in Korea before he signed with the Dodgers, Kim was never really able to establish himself at the big-league level during his rookie season. He appeared in 71 games for the Dodgers (mostly at second base) after spending the first month in Triple-A working on swing changes that the Dodgers had suggested he needed to make in order to handle the higher level of pitching compared to Korea. He indicated Monday that the Dodgers have suggested some more changes.
“The swing changes we made last year, I would say I felt about 70 percent comfortable,” Kim said through an interpreter. “And then this offseason and spring training, we were able to recognize some of the other stuff that we needed to work on, so I’m working very hard to make those changes again this year.”
After some initial success last May, Kim hit just .224 over his final 50 games with the Dodgers. He said he “was not satisfied last year – I found out some of the things that I needed to work on” and his goal this spring is to make the Dodgers’ season-opening roster.
“I think he got a good introduction to major-league pitching,” Roberts said. “I think he’s going to be better this year. The surface line was fine for Hyeseong (a .280 average overall). He did a really nice job for us. I thought he had a great year for the opportunities he was given. I expect he’s going to have more opportunities this year and we’ll see where it takes him. But he’s a hard worker and he’s an easy, easy guy to bet on.”
Like Kim, Freeland got his first taste of MLB last year. He hit just .190 in 29 games, striking out nearly half of the time (35 times in 84 at-bats).
“I think at times the game sped up on him,” Roberts said. “He’s had a great winter, from talking with the hitting coaches. The swing is in a good place, right-handed, left-handed. I think for me it’s just taking good at-bats. What that means is taking walks, hitting the ball on a line, getting hits. Because, again, he’s a guy that doesn’t need to carry an offense. So I just want to see quality of at-bat and keep moving around the diamond.”
SNELL STATUS
Tyler Glasnow and Emmet Sheehan threw to hitters in live batting practice on Monday, leaving Blake Snell as the only member of the projected six-man rotation not to face hitters in the first week of spring training. Snell, in fact, has yet to throw off a mound.
Coming into camp, Snell said he planned to take things “slower” this spring. He felt he pushed too hard last spring after signing a five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers as a free agent. The result was a shoulder issue that plagued him all year.
Given how far behind the rest of the rotation he is, it seems unlikely that he will open the season on the active roster, creating an opportunity for River Ryan or Gavin Stone, both returning from surgeries that sidelined them for the 2025 season.
“He’s playing catch. He’s throwing,” Roberts said of Snell on Monday. “Once he gets off the mound, throws a ‘pen, faces some hitters, we’ll know more. But obviously he’s not there right now.”