Freddie Freeman is healthy and ready for Dodgers opening day

PHOENIX – He’s back.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was ready to make that declaration about Freddie Freeman after watching him in camp for a handful of days.

“Right now, today, is as good as I’ve seen his swing over the course of a week sample than I have in two years,” Roberts said.

The opinion was shared by another person in Freeman’s circle.

“That’s what my dad said also,” Freeman said.

His father, Fred, who still throws batting practice to him in the offseason.

The return to form, or health, comes at what is potentially a critical time in Freeman’s career. Freeman is now 36 and under contract for two more seasons, including the upcoming one. He reiterated last week that he would like to play for two more years after that, saying he wanted to finish his career with the Dodgers.

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There’s really no point in exploring whether the Dodgers will want to offer Freeman a new deal when his current contract expires. Too many things can happen between now and then.

But there’s a simple way for Freeman to secure the ending that he wants.

He just has to hit.

He has to hit enough to prove the downturn in production over the previous two seasons was a reflection of his health and not his age. He has to hit enough to convince the Dodgers he can continue to be trusted to hold down a premium offensive position for a team that has championship aspirations.

Do that, and there’s no reason for Freeman to not return. He wants to be here. The Dodgers want him here.

Freeman was encouraged by the double he launched in his first exhibition game of the spring, a 11-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.

“Already hitting a ball to left-center, so that’s a good sign,” he said.

To be clear, Freeman was by no means bad his two most recent seasons. He batted a combined .289 over the two-year period, and his .295 average last year was third-best in the National League.

However, compared to the two years before that, the numbers marked a significant decline. He batted .328 in his first two seasons with the Dodgers, leading the majors in doubles in both seasons.

Roberts blamed the downward trend on injuries. Freeman broke his right middle finger fielding a ball in August of 2024. Late that season, he sustained an ankle injury that carried into the next. He played in the postseason with broken rib cartilage.

“I think that the age is an easy one to point to, but I really believe that he’s been dinged up for two years,” Roberts said.

Freeman explained that his ankle kept him from hitting last year until the final day of January.

“I thought I did all right with no offseason and nursing something for five straight months,” he said. “It’s not what I’m used to, but I still think we did all right, and we won the World Series.”

If Freeman is healthy, can he have a season similar to the one he had in 2023 when he finished with a .331 average and career-high 59 doubles?

“I expect to play like I normally do,” he said.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he “wouldn’t bet against” Freeman.

“The incredibly high level of play that he has maintained is unique and special, and he does everything he can to put himself in the best position to go out and have success,” Friedman said. “I would bet that will remain the case.”

Friedman recalled how in the winter before the 2022 season, he didn’t think the Dodgers would be able to sign the nine-time All-Star. Freeman had just won a World Series with the Braves, the same team that drafted him.

“Just didn’t feel like he would leave the Braves,” Friedman said. “It was hard to see him in a different uniform.”

But the Braves wouldn’t offer him the six-year contract that he wanted, and the Dodgers did. Freeman went on to forge a special bond with Los Angeles. 

He was grateful for how the fans supported him in the wake of his emotional departure from the Braves, as well as his then-three-year-old son’s battle with Guillan-Barre Syndrome. He hit one of the most memorable home runs in franchise history, a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.

“On the field, off the field, he’s been such a central figure in so many really big moments, and now it’s really hard to see him in a different uniform other than ours,” Friedman said.

A big season offensively for Freeman could make the sight of him in another uniform an impossibility.