![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5088,h_2862\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/75\/01k4831p09vx8xrn2p86.jpg\")
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There\u2019s a reason why infielder Alex Freeland is the No. 3 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and the No. 42 prospect in all of baseball.<\/p>\n
Freeland does everything on a baseball field well. He does not have a single below-average tool on the scouting 20-80 scale. In the minor leagues, Freeland’s ability to get on base paired with his elite defense and gap-to-gap power earned him an opportunity in Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n
In 94 games at Triple-A this season, Freeland walked 75 times and hit 26 doubles. The Dodgers were smart to give him a chance, but his first month in the big leagues hasn\u2019t gone as well as everyone hoped.<\/p>\n
Freeland is hitting just .198 in 81 at-bats with the Dodgers this season. While his on-base percentage is still over .300, Freeland is still leaving a lot to be desired offensively. His OPS is .622 due to the low batting average and him only having five extra-base hits. Thanks to his defense on the infield, Freeland is still better than a replacement level player, with 0.3 fWAR on the season.<\/p>\n
With a little development and a full season of playing time, there\u2019s a reason to believe Freeland can be a quality regular at the big league level. But when it comes to playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he needs to be more than that.<\/p>\n
Gavin Lux is a great example of this. Lux was a starter for the Dodgers in 2022 in 2024. He missed the entire 2023 season with an injury.<\/p>\n
Lux was never a bad Dodger. In fact, his OPS was above .700 and his OPS+ was right at or above 100 in both of his seasons as a starter. He totaled 4.1 fWAR in those two seasons combined.<\/p>\n
That being said, the standard in Los Angeles is higher. Being league average or a quality regular isn\u2019t good enough to earn guaranteed playing time. The Dodgers are an organization that is always looking to upgrade, and they did so in the offseason.<\/p>\n
The addition of Hyeseong Kim allowed Los Angeles to move on from Gavin Lux in a trade, shipping him to the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n
Lux has been fine with Cincinnati. He\u2019s batting .274 with a 100 OPS+ and 0.4 fWAR, but the Dodgers aren\u2019t really missing anything having traded him.<\/p>\n
As the 2025 regular season winds down in September, Alex Freeland needs to prove that he\u2019s more than an average infielder like Lux. That might be harsh for a rookie, but Freeland is already 24 years old and the Dodgers demand excellence.<\/p>\n
He needs to find more of those extra-base hits that he had in Triple-A. The offense simply needs to improve. If not, the Dodgers will have no choice but to view Freeland as a plus defender, and slightly below average bat that can be replaced at the first opportunity in any offseason.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big month for the rookie to prove he belongs in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Dodgers rookie infielder Alex Freeland needs a strong final month of the season to prove he can be more than an average starter at the big league level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":88382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n