Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman had surgery on his right ankle Thursday and is “expected to be able to participate in baseball activities” once spring training comes around, the team announced.
It is interesting wording from the team there, as it’s possible Freeman won’t be 100% to start spring training but will instead to relegated to things like throwing and hitting off a tee. He has all the way until March 18 before the regular season starts and that’s a two-game series against the Cubs in Japan. The Dodgers’ home opener is March 27.
Freeman suffered a sprained right ankle during the last week of the regular season and was severely hampered through the NLDS and NLCS rounds of the playoffs. He entered the World Series without having had an extra-base hit in nearly a month nor a home run in well over a month. In the NLCS, he went 1 for 15 in Games 2, 3 and 5 while missing Games 4 and 6.
In Game 1 of the World Series, however, he suddenly went on the run of a lifetime. He tripled early in the game and then hit the first-ever walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
He would go on to homer in each of the first four World Series games while driving home at least one run in each of the five games. He finished 6 for 20 (.300) with a triple, four home runs and 12 RBI. He won World Series MVP.
Freeman, whose ankle procedure consisted of a debridement and the removal of loose bodies, now heads to his age-35 season. It’s the fourth year of his six-year, $162 million deal with the Dodgers. In the regular season last year, he hit .282/.378/.476 (143 OPS+) with 35 doubles, two triples, 22 home runs, 89 RBI, 81 runs and 4.7 WAR.
