'Relentless' Freeman delivering for Dodgers despite ankle challenges

PHOENIX -- Even now, when he's as healthy as he could be, Freddie Freeman undergoes about an hour and a half of treatment on his surgically repaired ankle before every game, with additional treatment following final out.

It's part of the new normal for the star first baseman, who underwent offseason surgery on the badly injured right ankle that hobbled him during last year's championship run. It's been a grind, but on the field, that new normal has been pretty remarkable.

After going 4-for-4 with a homer and two doubles in Sunday's 8-1 defeat of the D-backs at Chase Field, Freeman is hitting an astounding .376. He doesn't qualify among hitting leaders because he missed time because of the ankle in early April, but his 1.171 OPS is second only to the Yankees' Aaron Judge among all Major Leaguers with a minimum of 120 plate appearances.

Freeman has achieved these results despite everything he has been through physically in the past eight months, and through all the maintenance required for him to play on his ankle.

"I just think he's relentless," manager Dave Roberts said. "Obviously, he's swinging a hot bat. … And he's been ailing. I remember even … when the trip started, we were talking about giving him a day off at some point. But he persevered, and we needed every bit of it."

The Dodgers' three-city 10-game road trip through Atlanta, Miami and Phoenix marked Freeman's longest stretch of playing without a day off this season. He stayed in for the entire game in all but two lopsided contests where the team was able to get him off his feet early.

That would usually be easy work for a player like Freeman, who prides himself on being available for all 162 games. But he's had to accept that doing things the right way in the here and now will pay off in the long run, something that became a reality long before the regular season.

Freeman did not begin swinging a bat until the end of January. He didn't run on the field until the latter half of February. He was generally in a good spot by the end of Spring Training, but he had to sit out the Tokyo Series vs. the Cubs because of discomfort in his left rib area, another lingering ailment from last year.

Then, after playing in the Dodgers' first home series, Freeman aggravated his ankle by slipping in the shower at his home and had a stint on the 10-day injured list. He returned after a minimum-length absence -- and admitted that the time away did him some good.

“I feel the best I’ve felt since I got hurt,” Freeman said when he was activated off the IL. “Better [than] before the Tigers series, so this was huge. … Hate to say it, but I might’ve needed the 10 days.”

Freeman has been taping his ankle every day. He wears heel lifts to prevent the top of his ankle from getting jammed. And still, there's the time-consuming treatment, which he's been told will probably continue until at least the All-Star break.

And yet, he's in one of the best season-opening spans of his career. His .376 average through 30 games is 40 points higher than his previous best, in 2017. That year is also the only other time Freeman has recorded an OPS over 1.000 through his first 30 games.

"I guess it's one of those things that I am [surprised], but I think it's just a byproduct that he just doesn't give anything away," Roberts said. "And he's just taking good at-bats. And I looked up the other day and saw he was hitting .360; I had no idea."

It's up there as one of the most consistent stretches, period, that Roberts can remember seeing from Freeman.

Freeman said his confidence in his swing "skyrocketed" about two weeks ago, when he had a two-hit night against the Pirates' Paul Skenes. One particular at-bat, in which he stayed through a changeup away for a line-drive single, indicated to him that he was in a good spot.

The last 10 games have been quite the test as well.

"I’m not 100%, but I feel good," Freeman said. "I feel good enough. … Back-to-back turf series, being on the basepaths is a lot, a couple day games after night games -- it was a lot. I’m obviously not feeling 100%. But I am feeling good enough out there where I’m not thinking about it."