PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers did not enter this spring with much drama. Their bullpen is largely in place, though lingering injuries for Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Michael Grove have at least slightly altered the picture. They have to settle on a fifth starter, though that largely is down to Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May.
“I think we’re very clear everywhere but center field and second base,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this weekend.
Essentially, the battle comes down to where Tommy Edman will play most of the time — and who takes the other spot. Edman spent much of the winter seemingly pegged to be the club’s everyday center fielder, with a chance to work into the infield mix occasionally. And after the Dodgers brought back Kiké Hernández, that likely meant that at least one of Hyeseong Kim or Andy Pages would be the odd man out.
Kim, a 26-year-old infielder signed to a three-year, $12.5 million deal in January, has struggled this spring. His home run Saturday, aided by the wind, marked just his second hit in Cactus League play. He’s still “a ways away,” Roberts said. Overhauling his swing will take time and reps that might be hard to come by in Los Angeles.
“I think that the difference between really good hitters and hitters that don’t survive in the big leagues is they don’t have (an) approach,” Roberts said. “I think that he has the ability to hit with two strikes and put the ball in play, but I think that kind of being a little bit more selective in his hitting area is only a benefit.”
The first set of Dodgers spring cuts are here. Zyhir Hope and Josue De Paula had impressive camps at the plate at just 20 and 19 years old, respectively.
Nick Frasso certainly showed that his stuff has bounced back after missing all of 2024 after shoulder surgery. https://t.co/psnMkCfYjT
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 3, 2025
The Dodgers have been working Kim at several spots besides second base to give themselves another left-handed hitting option in center. Ultimately, Kim’s bat will determine his fate. And unlike other offers Kim received this winter, his Dodgers deal doesn’t require his consent to be sent to the minors.
Pages, 24, flashed a year ago and authored the first multi-homer game by a rookie in Dodgers postseason history last October. The skill set is clear, with in-game power and an ability to mash against left-handed pitching (a .917 OPS in 107 plate appearances) that seemingly makes for a good center-field platoon partner with Edman in center and the most likely choice to win the job. But he is probably a more ideal defensive fit in right field rather than center.
It’s not necessarily clear-cut. Chris Taylor is in the final year of his deal and still guaranteed at least $17 million, and Roberts has continued to talk up Taylor’s value as a utility man even if that appears slightly redundant. Taylor likely projects to stick on the roster nonetheless. James Outman has been the Opening Day center fielder each of the last two seasons but hasn’t shown much consistency at the plate since his finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023. Through Sunday, Taylor and Outman were a combined 7-for-34 with 15 strikeouts in spring.
“I think for me, track record is more paramount,” Roberts said. “It weighs better. I still evaluate each day, but I don’t look at spring numbers at all.”
Freddie Freeman’s ribs are healed and his right ankle is surgically repaired. But he’s trying to keep at least one thing going from his run as World Series MVP last October. Freeman’s swing had been a constant battle well before he badly turned his ankle in the final week of the regular season, but it took his ankle getting to a manageable place to discover a cue that got him going.
That cue, Freeman explained, involved stepping out — at least, thinking he was stepping out — in his initial step. He said that kept his head upright and prevented him from hunching over and “cutting” his swing. The feeling of having more room allowed his hands to “clear,” spending more overall time in the zone to make consistent and solid contact.
He’s still stepping out now, and has homered twice in his first three games in Cactus League action.
“It’s working so far,” Freeman said.
The 35-year-old first baseman checked off another box on Sunday, playing his first game in the field after undergoing ankle surgery this offseason. It took one batted ball for him to get his first ball hit to him, and two for him to have to shuffle over to first base and field a throw. He’s already scrapped his plans for taping his ankle in games through the All-Star break, saying the tape job limited his range of motion and his right ankle has responded well enough for game action.
Freeman’s days are still starting quite early these days. Rather than the 4 1/2 hours of treatment it took to get him onto the field last postseason, the process takes 90 minutes before he hits the field for workouts. Fresh off his latest home run, he went straight to the training room for another hour of treatment.
“I was told my jog around the bases looked a little better than yesterday’s jog,” Freeman said. “So we’re trending in a better direction. … I feel like I can do pretty much everything now. I’ve kind of checked all those boxes. So like a full player now.”
Landon Knack’s 2024 season started in Tacoma, Wash., and ended at Yankee Stadium as a champion. Roberts hadn’t even heard of Ben Casparius last spring, and he wound up starting a potential World Series clincher.
“It’s still hard to kind of wrap my head around,” Casparius said recently, months after starting Game 4.
Neither is likely to open the season in the Dodgers’ rotation. The experience of last October matters nonetheless.
“Things moved fast for those guys last spring,” Roberts said. “There’s just a lot more confidence and that comes with success. Their teammates know them a lot more. They trust them more. So there’s no panic when you don’t have a great outing. You go back to work. Both those guys are going to play key roles for us.”
What role that is will remain fluid. It’s not hard to see why: Knack and Casparius appear ticketed for the kind of swing role that the Dodgers have relied heavily on under this regime, one that will require plenty of frequent flyer miles between Oklahoma City and Los Angeles and flexibility in how they’re used. So, their spring has consisted of a hybrid buildup, stretching each out to start while knowing each might have to be available for short bursts as needed.
“I think last year, I also showed that I can be a little versatile, whether it’s long relief or start or kind of whatever is needed,” Knack said. He started 12 of the 15 games he appeared in a year ago, with a 3.65 ERA. It’s the kind of production that would warrant a deeper look at a full-time starting role with most other clubs.
Then there’s Casparius, who burst onto the scene last season out of necessity with an intriguing fastball, wipeout slider and an unflappable nature. His experience remains minimal — he made more appearances last postseason (four) than in the regular season in the majors (three), but has appeared to use the opportunity as a jumping off point.
“It’s really just whatever opportunity presents itself, whatever it is that day, just kind of go with it,” Casparius said.
Mitch Garver crushed one of Casparius’ fastballs on March 25 against the Seattle Mariners, but the pitch served as a marker of Casparius’ progress. After all, the fastball was 98.6 mph — the second-hardest pitch tracked back to Casparius’ days in the minors last season and hardest he’d thrown since late May when he was with Oklahoma City.
His stuff is playing up right now, as that Mariners outing indicates (the other two, Feb. 21 against the Cubs and Sunday against the A’s, were in parks without public velocity readings). The fastball velocity — which is sitting above the 95.5 mph it was last year in the big leagues — is an indicator, along with the rest of his arsenal seemingly ticking up. He’s also intentionally throwing his curveball harder, hoping to throw it with the same grip but more intent than the one he used to steal strikes last season.
Confidence plays a role. So does Casparius “recomposing” his body this winter, as he put it, hoping to reproportion some of his weight to feel less sluggish on the mound.
“I think sometimes … it was more just all hands on deck during the year, eat whatever’s in front of you,” Casparius said. “I think just being a little more cautious of what I was eating. I did a lot of carb cycling and carb timing around workouts. For me it was just one of those things where the strength aspect of everything was really good because the volume is higher in the offseason on top of the fact that I was able to recompose my body composition.”
(Photo of Freddie Freeman: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
