Freddie Freeman played through multiple injuries during the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2024 World Series run, including a right ankle sprain that he sustained in the final week of the regular season.
Freeman appeared limited at times but still managed to play in 13 of the Dodgers’ postseason games. He put together a heroic effort to help the Dodgers capture their eighth World Series in franchise history en route to MVP honors.
The 35-year-old underwent right ankle surgery in early December after initially deciding not to get the operation because of a belief his ankle would heal with rest.
The delay has prevented Freeman from being a full-go at the start of Spring Training workouts, but he is hoping to start running this week, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I did everything except for running,” he said. “I’m currently at 80 percent of my weight on the boost treadmill. I think I have four more days of that, getting closer to 100 percent of my body weight. So I’m shooting for outdoor running middle of next week.”
Freeman has been limited to fielding and hitting drills thus far, but it sounds like he is ready to take the next step in his recovery with outdoor running.
Freeman previously mentioned he is unlikely to be in the Dodgers lineup when they begin Cactus League play on Thursday, Feb. 20, but the eight-time All-Star expects to be ready for the Tokyo Series next month.
“As of right now I am on track to be able to play in Tokyo,” Freeman said at DodgerFest.
The Dodgers have just 20 Spring Training games before breaking camp, and even with the reduced number, Freeman should have plenty of time to prepare for Opening Day.
Freddie Freeman relieved ankle injury wasn’t more severe
While Freeman was surprised that he had to undergo ankle surgery, he noted that it could have been much worse.
“So we went in there and cleaned it up. When they went in, they didn’t know if they were going to have to repair some of the ligaments because I had torn some of my ligaments as well in my ankle. It was quite a nasty injury I had,” Freeman said.
“Luckily, in those four weeks, the ligaments and tendons had healed enough where they didn’t have to fix them. They went in, I had chipped off a part of my cartilage and it floated all the way to the Achilles, so that was one of the things they had to do. And they shaved some spurs down, shaved some bones down.”
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