Alex

Freeland

The plan appears to be for him to get regular days off initially. There was some thought of Hernández returning this weekend, but the Dodgers will hold off until the series in Sacramento. Ryan Ward figures to lose his spot when Hernández is activated, and Tommy Edman will begin playing more second base at Alex Freeland’s expense.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated that Freeland will receive more playing time than Hyeseong Kim while both are on the active roster. The 24-year-old infielder is back with Los Angeles after Enrique Hernández hit the injured list with a significant tear in his oblique muscle. He’s hit .235 (23-for-98) with two homers and eight RBI in 112 plate appearances over 33 games in the big leagues this season.

Alex Freeland is coming back up to join the Dodgers. Hernández made it through just 1 1/2 games after missing the first two months following elbow surgery, but that’s fine... he’s really just here for October.

With Mookie Betts (oblique) off the injured list, the Dodgers needed to make a move. This comes as a bit of a surprise since Freeland has been playing mostly second base with Betts sidelined, while Hyeseong Kim has been at shortstop. It seems that the Dodgers will move Kim over to second base when Betts returns. Kim has been hitting better, slashing .289/.353/.395 in 29 games with one home run, eight RBI, and five steals. He should remain deep league relevant if he continues to get starts.

Hitting one spot ahead of him, Hyeseong Kim reached on catcher’s interference once but struck out his other three times up. One of Freeland or Kim will head back to Triple-A on Monday when Mookie Betts comes off the IL. Kim has a 102-point advantage in OPS right now, so he might be the better bet to stay. However, the one kept now still figures to lose his spot to Enrique Hernández before too long.

Freeland also singled twice and drew a walk for good measure. He’s gone deep twice in the first 35 games of the season while driving in just his seventh run in the process. There’s some long-term upside in Freeland’s bat, but even in the loaded Dodgers’ lineup, he does not appear to be ready to be a redraft fantasy contributor just yet.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts continues mixing things up with Mookie Betts (oblique) on the injured list, moving Hernández up to the cleanup spot to face Mets southpaw David Peterson. Miguel Rojas and Santiago Espinal are also on the lineup card with lefties Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland riding the bench.

Hyeseong Kim and Freeland scored all four runs in Tuesday’s win, which is just how the Dodgers drew it up in January. Freeland was 3-for-24 coming into tonight, but his EV numbers were already quite good. There’s little reason to pick him up in mixed leagues at the moment, but he might well turn into a quality starting second baseman in time.

Freeland makes just his second start of the season with Miguel Rojas getting the night off. The 24-year-old infielder is serving as Los Angeles’ de-facto utility specialist while Tommy Edman (ankle) continues recovering from offseason surgery.

Muncy will sit again with southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez getting the nod for the D-backs Saturday evening. Santiago Espinal will draw the start at the hot corner and hit seventh. Alex Freeland is also out of the lineup, with Miguel Rojas hitting ninth and lined up at the keystone.