Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman underwent surgery Thursday on the ailing right ankle that didn’t prevent him from becoming the World Series Most Valuable Player as he led the Dodgers to the championship.
The Dodgers announced that the surgery, performed by Dr. Kenneth Jung in Los Angeles, consisted of “debridement and the removal of loose bodies.” The team expects Freeman to be able to participate in baseball activities when spring training starts in February but didn’t address his timetable for playing in games.
Los Angeles faces the Chicago Cubs on March 18 and 19 in Tokyo before opening at home on March 27 against the Detroit Tigers.
Freeman, 35, sustained the injury when running down the first base line in a Sept. 25 game, and he missed the last three games of the regular season.
He was hobbled through the first two playoff rounds against the San Diego Padres and New York Mets. Freeman sat out two games of the National League Championship Series, including the Game 6 finale as the Dodgers advanced to face the American League champion New York Yankees.
The World Series was a different story, as Freeman tripled early in Game 1 and hit the first walk-off grand slam in series history as Los Angeles won 6-3 in 10 innings. Freeman homered in each of the first four games and collected the MVP award after batting .300 (6-for-20) with four homers and 12 RBIs in the Dodgers’ five-game triumph.
Freeman is a career .300 hitter in 2,032 regular-season games with 343 home runs. His 1,232 RBIs, 2,267 hits, 508 doubles, 3,866 total bases and 1,298 runs lead all active players in the major leagues.
The eight-time All-Star was the National League Most Valuable Player in 2020 for the Braves, the team he helped win the 2021 World Series. Freeman began his career in Atlanta, where he played from 2010-21 before signing with the Dodgers as a free agent.