LOS ANGELES — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the obvious Saturday morning, calling Freddie Freeman’s struggles at the plate a legitimate “slump.”
It’s a designator rarely used for the steady veteran, who has been an All-Star in each of the past five seasons when they played the showcase game and was the National League MVP in the one year they didn’t (2020).
Freeman was batting just .259 leading into Saturday afternoon’s game against the New York Mets, with a .346 slugging percentage that was better than only his 20-game baptism in the major leagues in 2010 when the mark was .333.
“It is a slump and it is very unusual for a guy like Freddie,” Roberts said. “He’s frustrated. He’s trying to change his daily habits, if that correlates to getting hits. He’s not used to struggling. Even the at-bat against Sean Manaea (on Friday), you don’t see him chase like that.”
After Friday’s game, Freeman broke down the mechanical issues with his swing.
“My hip’s gone, which causes everything in my whole swing to cut,” Freeman said. “I’m in the zone for at least two inches, and that’s it. All I can really do is hit an offspeed down the right-field line or foul pitches off, like you saw (Friday), or swing and miss.”
Freeman went 0 for 5 on Friday, his second hitless game with five at-bats already this season. He had just four of those all of last season. Through the first seven games of the current homestand, Freeman was 3 for 27 (.111) with a .148 slugging percentage.
While the early debate in spring training was on lineup construction and whether or not Freeman would bat in front of Shohei Ohtani in the No. 2 spot or behind him in the No. 3 spot, Roberts is not ready to move Freeman up to the No. 2 spot as of now.
Leadoff man Mookie Betts is thriving while batting in front of Ohtani in the second spot. Ohtani also is producing, as is Will Smith in the cleanup spot. It makes little sense to move any of them out of a spot in which they have taken ownership.
“The point being is that if you don’t feel good and your lower half isn’t working, whether you hit first, second or ninth, I don’t think that is a factor,” Roberts said.
BULLPEN SWAP
The Dodgers placed right-hander Kyle Hurt on the injured list Saturday with right shoulder inflammation, allowing them to bring back left-hander Nick Ramirez from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Ramirez had a pair of scoreless outings Sunday and Monday before he was optioned back to OKC.
Hurt delivered two scoreless innings as the opener in Tuesday’s game against the Washington Nationals and has a 1.35 ERA in three appearances this season.
As of now, Hurt is not scheduled to undergo an MRI for his injury.
GETTING CLOSER
After saying Walker Buehler’s rehab outings were “not great,” Roberts hit a more optimistic tone after talking to his right-hander, who is close to pitching again after elbow surgery in 2022.
“We’re just trying to figure out where he is physically,” Roberts said. “The pitch count is getting up, the stuff was much better (Thursday) and was arguably as good as it’s been in a long time, so that was good.”
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Buehler went just 2 2/3 innings in a rehab start for OKC on Thursday and walked four batters, with his curveball far from effective. It was his first outing after getting hit on his pitching hand by a comebacker during a rehab start for Rancho Cucamonga last week.
The hope was that Buehler could throw as many as 85 pitches Thursday, but he threw just 68. He is expected to take the mound again for OKC next week at Albuquerque and, instead of a pitch-count goal, the hope is that Buehler can go five innings and get accustomed to the up-and-down requirements of multiple innings.
UP NEXT
Mets (RHP Adrian Houser, 0-1, 4.70 ERA) vs. Dodgers (LHP James Paxton, 2-0, 2.81 ERA), 1:10 p.m. Sunday, SportsNet LA, 570 AM