Switch-hitting Alex Freeland made his way to the majors in 2025, which qualifies this as a successful season for the 23-year-old shortstop.<\/p>\n
Freeland was called up to the Dodgers on July 29<\/a>, the club\u2019s second draft pick from 2022 to reach the majors. Freeland, a third-round pick that year out of Central Florida<\/a>, was preceded by catcher Dalton Rushing, the club\u2019s second-round pick that year, by two and a half months<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Freeland is the fourth Dodgers player to wear uniform number 76, joining relievers Duaner Sanchez (2004), Matt West (2015), and Josh Sborz (2019-20).<\/p>\n Getting the call to Cincinnati \u2014 where the Dodgers were playing at the time \u2014 capped a strong rise for Freeland, who began the 2024 season by repeating High-A Great Lakes. He quickly that season made his way to Double-A Tulsa and thrived at both levels, earning a call-up to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he spent the final six weeks. Freeland showing some power, being a switch-hitter, and playing a capable defense at shortstop gave him a similar rise on prospect lists. Entering 2025, Freeland was named to six top-100 lists, ranging from 35th to 82nd, averaging 57th<\/a>.<\/p>\n When Baseball America updated their prospect rankings in July<\/a>, Freeland was still in the top 100, but fell from 35th to 56th overall.<\/p>\n \u201cThis seems to be a big drop,\u201d J.J. Cooper wrote at the time<\/a>, \u201cbut it\u2019s more of an acceptance of multiple pieces of scouting feedback indicating that Freeland is a solid player, but without the tools to be an impact regular.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Being a solid player can still be quite useful, and at the end of July the Dodgers were without Max Muncy and Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez, needing all the help they can get in the infield. A shortstop by trade, Freeland filled in at third base and second base in the majors, and started 25 of 31 games before the cavalry returned.<\/p>\n Freeland held his own for a while, including home runs in back-to-back games, but ended his first major league stint with a brutal 2-for-26 stretch with 15 strikeouts and one walk that torpedoed his final numbers, which included a .601 OPS and 36-percent strikeout rate. He finished up his season in Triple-A<\/a>, and on the season hit .263\/.384\/451 with a 115 wRC+ for the Comets.<\/p>\n Between Triple-A and the majors, Freeland hit better while batting left-handed (.266\/.387\/.453) than batting right-handed (.207\/.321\/.356), which has been the case in each of the last three seasons. Both of his home runs with the Dodgers came from the left side.<\/p>\n Holding your own against right-handed pitchers is a good place to be in a league full of them, and being able to play all over the infield is quite valuable, so expect Freeland to get more chances going forward.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 2025 particulars<\/p>\n Age: 23<\/p>\n Stats: 29 G, .190\/.292\/.310, 73 wRC+, 2 HR, 2 doubles, triple, 11 walks in 97 PA<\/p>\n Salary: $760,000, pro-rated for his time in the majors (roughly $155,268)<\/p>\n Game of the year<\/p>\n Freeland homered on consecutive days in Sn Diego on August 22-23, but his best game with the Dodgers came one day before in Denver. On August 21, Freeland started at third base and later shifted to second. At the plate he had three hits in a win over the Rockies<\/a>, including his first major league triple and an RBI double off the wall<\/a>.<\/p>\n