After multiple years of coveting Tommy Edman, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired the utility man at the trade deadline in large part because of general manager Brandon Gomes making a strong push to orchestrate a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox.
Edman was on the injured list at the time and had yet to play in the 2024 season because of undergoing right wrist surgery last October and then suffering a sprained ankle during his rehab process.
Edman’s delayed start to the season had his swing feeling as though it was the early portion of Spring Training, but he’s now further along with the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
“I think it’s kind of more just midseason. If you just track when I started playing games again, we’re about in like end of May or beginning of June, basically,” Edman said this week.
“I think what was nice was having that bye, honestly. I finished the season really cold and then I had, like, five or six days to do some really good work on the swing. Definitely felt better once the postseason started.
“In that sense, we’re definitely like midseason, I would say, early to midseason.”
Further complicating matters for Edman is being a switch-hitter and thus needing to play catch up on two sides of the plate.
“I have different cues, just because my top hand is dominant on the right side and bottom hand dominant on left side. You can’t do exactly the same thing,” he noted.
“For me, it’s kind of just more about using like the backside of my swing a little better, with the left hand and left back hip. I think I do a better job of that naturally right-handed. So it’s kind of just trying to get the swings a little bit closer to each other so they’re a little bit easier to manage.”
Tommy Edman’s postseason stats
As Freddie Freeman has labored through a sprained right ankle and Teoscar Hernández remains hitless in the NLCS, Edman’s production has been instrumental in the Dodgers being one win from returning to the World Series.
Edman hit safely in three games during the NL Division Series, and now as the starting shortstop because of Miguel Rojas being removed from the Dodgers’ playoff roster due to injury, he’s 9-for-22 with two doubles and seven RBI in the NLCS.
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