Freddie Freeman’s latest ankle issue will keep him out longer than initially expected.
During the Dodgers’ travel day to Philadelphia on Thursday, the team announced Freeman had been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to March 31.
The moves means that Freeman won’t be eligible to return to action until next weekend, when the club returns home for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs April 11-13.
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Freeman has been out since he slipped in the shower at his home Sunday and fell, aggravating the right ankle he had surgically repaired this offseason in the process.
Freeman experienced swelling in his ankle in the wake of the mishap, and required extensive sessions of treatment from the team’s training staff.
Despite that, he went through two days of routine pregame work this week, while missing all three games against the Atlanta Braves. And the initial expectation was that he would be available for the start of the team’s Philadelphia-Washington D.C. trip Friday.
On Tuesday night, manager Dave Roberts said there was even a 50/50 shot of Freeman being back in the lineup Wednesday.
Instead, Freeman will now go on the IL for the first time in his Dodgers career — and the first time for a non-COVID-19 related reason since he suffered a wrist fracture with the Braves in 2017.
Even before his slip in the shower, Freeman’s ankle — which he sprained in the last week of the regular season last year, and had surgically repaired after playing through the injury during the Dodgers’ World Series run — was not yet back to 100%.
Throughout spring training and the opening week of the season, he still required close to an hour daily pregame treatment. After playing three straight games against the Detroit Tigers last week, he said it was “getting a little stiff” near the end of the series.
Still, Freeman said those issues were “nothing to be ever worried about,” and was hoping the team’s rare Sunday off-day would provide him further reprieve.
Alas, his right foot slipped as he tried stepping into a bathtub-shower. And now, he’ll have to wait at least another week before returning.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
