The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the season with one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the history of the sport, and that’s proven to be a good thing.
With superstars like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto leading the way, the Dodgers seem to have virtually no weaknesses. But in the marathon baseball season, injuries can threaten to derail the highest championship hopes, even for a team with this much talent.
The Dodgers have already seen the likes of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernandez, Tommy Edman and several others go down with persistent injuries. And Freddie Freeman has been no exception.
Freeman suffered an ankle injury during the Dodgers’ World Series run last fall and opted for offseason surgery shortly after. Then, in April, he was placed on the 10-day injured list following a setback on that injury after he reportedly slipped in the shower.
As Freeman posts a National League-best .376 batting average and .734 slugging percentage this season, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reported the extent of Freeman’s ongoing ankle treatments.
“Every day, Freeman said he gets ‘about an hour and a half’ of pregame treatment on his ankle,” Harris wrote. “In games, he tapes it up for stability and wears heel lifts in his cleats to prevent it from getting jammed as he runs.”
Freeman has insisted on playing every day and his production at the plate so far certainly justifies it. But amid all of the other injuries it’s seeing, the team is hoping he can completely recover as soon as possible.
Now, it has given Freeman an update on when his ankle might stop giving him problems.
“Perhaps by the All-Star break, Freeman has been told by the team’s training staff, his ankle will be back to relative normal — or, at least, to the point where, ‘I might not have to do as much treatment,’ he said,” per Harris.
As the Dodgers look to repeat as World Series champions, they’ll need as many healthy players as they can get.
More MLB: Yankees Get New Bad Break as Rehabbing $18 Million Righty ‘Can’t Get Over Hump’
The post Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman Gets Injury Update After Early-Season Setback appeared first on Newsweek.