First, the meme made Freddie Freeman laugh. Then, in a serendipitous twist, it gave him a lightning-bulb epiphany about his recently ailing swing. At the end of a long day during last week\u2019s homestand \u2014 when Freeman was hit by a pitch on July 20, immediately removed from the game to get an X-ray, then informed he somehow hadn\u2019t sustained serious injury \u2014 manager Dave Roberts shared with the first baseman a comical video edit he had received from a friend. A light reprieve at the end of a stressful day.<\/p>\n
In it, the swing of Freeman\u2019s walk-off grand slam in last year\u2019s World Series was incorporated into a spin-off of the viral Coldplay kiss-cam video (yes, that Coldplay kiss cam). Freeman got a chuckle out of the clip. But, while rewatching his Fall Classic moment, he also made an observation about his iconic swing. On that night last October, Freeman noticed, \u201cI\u2019m more in my front ankle,\u201d he later said \u2014 a subtle, but profound, contrast to how he had been swinging the bat amid a two-month cold spell he was mired in at the time.<\/p>\n
So, for the rest of that night, Freeman thought about the difference. He went into the Dodgers\u2019 batting cages the next afternoon focused on making a change. \u201cIt\u2019s a different thought of being in your legs when you\u2019re hitting,\u201d said Freeman, who had started the season batting .371 over his first 38 games, before slumping to a .232 mark over his next 49 contests. \u201cIt\u2019s just more [about leaning] into my front ankle. It\u2019s helping me be on time and on top [of the ball].\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d he added with a chuckle, \u201chow it goes in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten games later, it seems to be going pretty well. Since making the tweak on July 21, Freeman is 14 for 39 (.359 average) with two home runs, four extra base hits, 10 RBIs and (most importantly) a renewed confidence at the plate. After collecting his first three-hit game in a month Tuesday in Cincinnati, then his first home run in all of July the next evening, he stayed hot in the Dodgers\u2019 series-opening 5-0 defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, whacking a two-run double in the first inning and a solo home run in the fifth in front of a crowd of 10,046 at Steinbrenner Field (the New York Yankees\u2019 spring training park serving as the Rays\u2019 temporary home).<\/p>\n
\u201cThat visual helped him kind of tap into something,\u201d Roberts laughed recently of Freeman\u2019s post-meme swing adjustment. \u201cHe is early, for a change. Versus being late, chasing.\u201d Freeman\u2019s turnaround is something the Dodgers \u2014 who also got six scoreless innings out of Clayton Kershaw on Friday, lowering his season earned-run average to 3.29 in 13 starts \u2014 need out of several superstar sluggers over the final two months of the season. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers during a 5-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. (Jason Behnken \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
During Thursday\u2019s trade deadline, the team didn\u2019t splurge on big-name acquisitions. The only addition they made to their recently slumping lineup (which ranked 28th in the majors in scoring during July) was versatile outfielder Alex Call from the Washington Nationals. Instead, both Roberts and club executives have preached of late, the team is banking on players like Mookie Betts (who is batting .237), Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez (who has hit .215 since returning from an adductor strain in May), Tommy Edman (who has hit .210 since returning from an ankle injury in May) and even Shohei Ohtani (who leads the National League in home runs, but is batting only .221 since resuming pitching duties in June) to play up to their typical, potent standards. \u201cI think if you look at it from the offensive side, as far as our guys, they\u2019ll be the first to tell you they\u2019ve got to perform better and more consistently,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that we\u2019re all counting on.\u201d<\/p>\n
For much of the summer, Freeman had been squarely in that group, as well. His recent Coldplay-inspired rebound, the club hopes, will be one of many that spark an offensive surge down the stretch this year.<\/p>\n
Q: What inspired Freddie Freeman’s rebound?
\nA: A meme of his walk-off grand slam in last year\u2019s World Series, incorporated into a spin-off of the viral Coldplay kiss-cam video, helped Freeman notice a difference in his swing and make an adjustment.
\nQ: How has Freeman performed since making the adjustment?
\nA: Since making the tweak on July 21, Freeman is 14 for 39 (.359 average) with two home runs, four extra base hits, 10 RBIs and a renewed confidence at the plate.
\nQ: What are the Dodgers’ expectations for the rest of the season?
\nA: The team is banking on players like Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, Tommy Edman, and Shohei Ohtani to play up to their typical, potent standards and spark an offensive surge down the stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Freddie Freeman’s Rebound First, the meme made Freddie Freeman laugh. Then, in a serendipitous twist, it gave him a lightning-bulb epiphany about his recently ailing swing. At the end of a long day during last week\u2019s homestand \u2014 when Freeman was hit by a pitch on July 20, immediately removed from the game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/ceb28b2\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3481x1828+0+348\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd7%2Fd1%2F8ed0b7184347a490994511bb9a9f%2Fdodgers-rays-baseball-20070.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19295,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19292\/revisions\/19295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}