The Dodgers announced a round of camp cuts today, headlined by their decision to option utility man Hyeseong Kim to Triple-A. Infielder Nick Senzel, outfielder Jack Suwinski, and catcher Seby Zavala were also re-assigned to minor league camp. That leaves the door open for infield prospect Alex Freeland to make the team’s Opening Day roster, and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic confirms that Freeland has been informed that he’s done just that.
Freeland, 24, was a third-round pick by the Dodgers in 2022 and made his big league debut last year. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport last season, the infielder hit quite well at Triple-A with a .263/.384/.451 (115 wRC+) slash line across 106 games for Oklahoma City. Freeland swatted 16 homers and 30 doubles while walking at a whopping 16.3% clip and striking out 21.9% of the time. Those strong numbers didn’t translate to an 29-game cup of coffee with Los Angeles this last year, however, he hit just .190/.292/.310 across 97 trips to the plate.
Despite that tough start to his MLB career, Freeland will round out a Dodgers bench that already includes Santiago Espinal, Dalton Rushing, and Alex Call. Call and Rushing figure to serve in pure bench roles, backing up the outfield and catcher Will Smith respectively. As for Freeland and Espinal, however, they appear likely to share playing time at second base with veteran Miguel Rojas to open the season, while also filling in for Mookie Betts and Max Muncy on the left side of the infield as needed. With both Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman on the injured list to open the season, there’s plenty of room in the club’s infield mix for Freeland to earn himself playing time in the early days of the 2026 campaign.
It’s at least somewhat surprising that opportunity won’t go to Kim. The 27-year-old hit a solid .280/.314/.385 (95 wRC+) across 170 trips to the plate in a bench role for the Dodgers last year while handling second base, shortstop, and center field as needed. It seems as though production during Spring Training didn’t factor into L.A.’s decision regarding their final bench spot, either; Kim slashed an incredible .407/.448/.519 in 30 spring plate appearances, while Freeland struggled during camp with a paltry .116/.286/.233 slash line across 56 plate appearances. Jack Harris of the California Post notes, however, that the Dodgers felt Freeland’s discipline (with 11 walks and 11 strikeouts) was impressive and that Kim struggled with his mechanics during and after his stint with South Korea in the World Baseball Classic.
It’s also plausible that the decision to roster Freeland is about getting him an opportunity while there’s a relatively clear shot at regular playing time. Edman is expected to begin the year on the injured list, and while his stay may not be very long it could still allow Freeland to get consistent MLB playing time for a couple weeks. That could be hard to come by on the club’s roster once Edman returns from the shelf, and the Dodgers have at times had prospects struggle to break through due to lack of opportunities in this past. If that’s the case, it’s not hard to imagine Kim being the next man up for a bench role in the event Espinal or Rojas either struggles or heads to the injured list. Whatever the Dodgers’ exact reasoning may be, Kim will open the season at Triple-A for the second season in a row and look to stay ready for when a big league opportunity eventually does arrive.
What would it take for the Mets to attain Kim?
Would much prefer Kim over Brujan making the team. Kim’s position flexibility suits the Mets as emergency shortstop, second base, and occasional outfield work.
This is a head scratcher unless Kim’s injury is worse than they thought. He is hitting over .400 with a .967 OPS and Freeland .116 and .518 OPS. The only benefit I see is Freeland is a switch hitter.
horror
Maybe 50ish at bats don’t tell you all that much about a hitter
The theory that they are giving Freeland a few weeks of playing time in the Majors seems like the most reasonable explanation. It’s more of an evaluation opportunity than a choice of one player over another.
And what would it have taken either last season or this year for the Dodgers to have given Kim more regular playing time and the starting 2B job at least as long as Edman is out??
Yeah I just checked his spring numbers. Considering he’s not making league minimum and had a great spring, he deserves an MLB job.
Actually, his numbers are better than Freeland’s too.
agent
“And what would it have taken either last season or this year for the Dodgers to have given Kim more regular playing time”
A belief that he’s good enough to do so?
They keep toying with Kim. When they gave him a chance last year playing everyday he was batting close to .400. When they started to play him sporatically his hitting worsened. The Braves should be all in on him, with the other Kim being out, best fit I could think of
I pine for the days when I paid zero attention to spring training because moves like this one are maddening. In many ways ST is a charade. What players do on the field many times is irrelevant. Dodgers clearly have too many players in the mix for their utility roles, and success for most of them relies too heavily on injury possibilities. Are these guys even gonna get enough ABs in AAA?
solaris
what?
I don’t follow The Mets closely but I looked up Brujan. 8 teams and he is still only 28. Almost the definition of a journeyman. Not much bat so I assume he has a solid to good glove.
The Dodgers have multiple players that can fill the 2nd base slot. I suspect that when Kike and Edman come off the IL that someone will be traded. It might be Kim but it might just as well be Espaniel, Senzel or Freeland. Do The Mets have the prospects to swing a deal?
congrats to freeland on making the roster. tough to crack that lineup
give em hell alex
This is downright dumb on LA’s part. Kim was totally fine in the bigs last season, was great in spring training and even showed pop in the WBC.
Something tells me Kim is currently the victim of some sort of algorithm they’re using. He may be back up a month from now – who knows? But in the moment it just comes across as insanity.
Salzilla
Imagine being so sure that
1) you know more about baseball that the Dodgers’ front office
2) you know that much about a player that has a few hundred PA’s in the majors
Yes, give the guy who’s batting .103 in Spring Training a spot on the squad. I don’t really like this move.
It’s temporary. When Edman comes back in late April/Early May, the player they are carrying now to cover for him probably goes down. Meanwhile a top prospect in Freeland gets an audition.
Let him get every day at bats at AAA. He’s going to be on bench anyway so not much of an audition. Meanwhile, someone they signed who is not making league minimum and had a great spring (and good 2025 at the MLB level) is being sent down.
Cave
Yes, judge a player based on 50ish spring PA’s. Methinks the Dodgers know more about Freeland than you
Wow. They did Kim dirty. I think the championships have gone to their head. What a shame. A once likable franchise, is no longer. Kim, if you’re reading, know you didn’t deserve that and always have friends here
Much ado about nothing. Anyone who watched the Dodgers spring games saw Kim flail around at the plate regardless of what the numbers say. Many of his hits were seeing eye grounders. Dodgers are deep with middle infield talent and as has been pointed out when Edman returns this current decision is likely moot.
Dodgers never needed Kim, he was just the shiny new toy at the time and unfortunately it’s going to affect his career path in a negative way
A multibillion dollar corporation being run by infants. Sounds about right.