The Los Angeles Dodgers lineup includes former MVP winners in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, plus multiple All-Stars, but Tommy Edman has taken much of the spotlight early into the 2025 season.
Edman delivered for the Dodgers yet again on Friday night with a three-run home run that was the difference in their 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers otherwise had been largely stymied by Matthew Boyd, who was matching a terrific outing from Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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“He really spun it well. It was a good pitcher’s pitch,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the changeup Edman lofted out to left field for his homer.
“He got him out earlier on a changeup and then he hit a ball hard, but that one he just found a way to get underneath it and backspin. He’s put together pretty well.”
The home run was Edman’s sixth of the season, which is most on the Dodgers roster. Teoscar Hernández is second on the team with five homers, and Kiké Hernández and Ohtani both have four.
Edman’s career high for home runs is 13, which he originally set during the 2022 season and matched in 2023. He’s hit 12 homers since being traded to the Dodgers last year and is on pace to exceed 60 this season.
“I’ve got the under on the 60,” Roberts quipped. “He just takes good at-bats. … He just has a knack for getting the big hit. Boyd was good all night. It was a changeup down below, and he just rode it out and elevated it to the pull side for a huge hit. Tommy is a baseball player.
“I don’t think he’d ever say he’s a power hitter, but he’s finding a way to backspin the baseball and hit some homers.”
Tommy Edman stands out as home run leader
Not only does Edman have the most homers among all Dodgers so far this season, but he also enters play Saturday tied with Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, Tyler Soderstrom and Mike Trout for the MLB lead as well.
“It’s a lot of guys that kind of look the same, and then there’s me,” Edman said of the list. “It’s kind of funny. Just a hot start to the season. We’ll see how long I can keep it up.”
Despite the uptick in power since joining the Dodgers, Edman maintains that has not been a focus of his.
“I’m really not trying to hit homers. It’s more a result of putting in some good work in the cage and I think also having a better plan at the plate, doing my preparation and knowing how I’m trying to attack a pitcher,” he explained.
“It’s kind of a variety of things. It’s just a result, not something I’m trying to do.”
Nevertheless, the 29-year-old certainly has more than lived up to his ‘Tommy Tanks’ nickname that was bestowed upon him since joining the Dodgers.
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