ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman hadn’t been on the injured list in eight years and didn’t want to go on it this year, even while battling an aggravation of the ankle injury that plagued him last October.
He came away grateful for having done so.
“I hate to say it,” Freeman admitted, “but I might have needed the 10 days.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers activated Freeman off a brief stint on the IL ahead of their series opener against the Chicago Cubs on Friday, the same day the team gave away a bobblehead commemorating his Kirk Gibson-style walk-off home run in the 2024 World Series.
Freeman went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, was hit by a pitch and scored a run in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win, his first game since March 29.
“Got on base by way of hit-by-pitch and it was just his first game back,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He does a lot of great things, but this was a tough one. He’ll be back in there tomorrow.”
Freeman spent all of last year’s postseason playing through a sprained right ankle that necessitated offseason surgery. The ankle was still causing discomfort as he navigated through spring training. He missed the season-opening two-game series from Japan because of discomfort in his right side — the other injury that plagued him last fall — and felt tightness in the ankle toward the end of the ensuing series against the Detroit Tigers from Dodger Stadium. Then, on the morning of March 30, Freeman slipped while stepping into his shower and aggravated the injury.
Freeman missed the three-game series against his former team, the Atlanta Braves, last week, then made the trip to Philadelphia intending to play and was instead placed on the IL. A week later, Freeman said this is “the best I’ve felt since I’ve gotten hurt.”
Freeman took live batting practice against a Dodgers minor leaguer at the ballpark Monday and Wednesday, then hit against Trajekt, the popular pitching simulator, on Thursday. But the real proof came while doing running exercises and not feeling any hesitation as his right foot hit the bases, a particular source of consternation last October.
“I have no reservations going into this game,” Freeman said. “I feel like I can steal a base.”
Roberts was playfully asked if Freeman, with 98 stolen bases in his 16-year career, has the green light on the bases moving forward.
“No,” Roberts said with a smile. “It’s as red as red can be. Fire-engine red.”
Only one player, Marcus Semien, played in more regular-season games than Freeman from 2018 to 2024. Throughout his career, Freeman has taken deep pride in being available on a daily basis, no matter what might be nagging him. Relenting to the IL last week was a sign to the Dodgers that he might be more open to the idea as a means of keeping himself healthy for the stretch run of a season.
Freeman doesn’t have any off days planned for the foreseeable future but said he will determine the health of his ankle on a “series-by-series” basis. Roberts called it a “read-and-react situation.” Freeman is 35, a time when players’ bodies begin to wear out. But this, Freeman stressed, has nothing to do with age.
“I rolled my ankle, I tore ligaments on the left side and the right side and chipped off cartilage and had surgery four months ago,” he said. “I’m not looking at it as an age thing. I feel like I keep myself in great shape. I feel like I was swinging it pretty good and playing good baseball before I got hurt. I guess you can say age is falling in a bathtub. Maybe that can be it. But I feel good.”
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday that quarterback Carson Beck has been cleared to participate in all team summer activities and is approaching 100 percent following elbow surgery last year.
Cristobal said Beck has been throwing for the past three weeks as part of his rehab regimen. Beck missed all of spring practice and has yet to throw to Miami’s receivers as part of organized team activities. But that is all about to change when Miami begins summer workouts next week.
“He’s good to go,” Cristobal told ESPN at the ACC spring meetings. “He’s exceeding every benchmark.”
Beck underwent surgery on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament, which he injured on the final play of the first half in second-ranked Georgia‘s 22-19 overtime win against Texas in the SEC championship game Dec. 7.
Beck started at Georgia for two seasons, going 24-3, and ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had him rated as the No. 5 quarterback for the 2025 draft. But given his injury and inconsistent performance in 2024, Beck entered the portal in January. He quickly opted for Miami, where he will replace No. 1 NFL draft pick Cam Ward.
Beck threw for 7,426 yards over his two seasons as Georgia’s starter, fifth most among all FBS passers since 2023, with 57 total touchdowns and 23 turnovers.
The three people who died as a result of the crash were all in a Kia Soul, which collided with a Dodge Durango being driven by Hayes on Saturday afternoon in Largo, Florida, police said.
A 78-year-old woman who was driving the Kia and two of her passengers — 10-year-old Jabari Elijah Solomon and 4-year-old Charlie Herbert Solomon Riveria — died in the crash, police said. Another passenger in the Kia was hospitalized with serious injuries, police said.
No tickets or criminal charges have been filed, though the investigation is continuing.
“We are deeply saddened to learn the crash resulted in three fatalities, as confirmed by Largo Police, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those lost,” the Hurricanes said in a statement.
The school is still working to gather further information.
“There were no signs of impairment with either driver of the vehicles,” Largo Police public information officer Megan Santo said in a statement distributed Sunday.
Hayes, a four-star recruit coming out of Largo High, played in 12 games for the Hurricanes as a freshman in 2024, mostly on special teams. He finished the season with four tackles and one interception, which he returned 25 yards in Miami’s 56-9 victory over Florida A&M on Sept. 7.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — NCAA president Charlie Baker said Monday he was “up for anything” when asked about a President Donald Trump-proposed commission on collegiate athletics.
Reports surfaced last week that Trump was going to create the commission.
While his conversations at ACC meetings with league football coaches, men’s and women’s basketball coaches, athletic directors and other school officials focused on governance and the pending House settlement, Baker was asked during an informal media availability for his thoughts on the presidential commission.
“I think the fact that there’s an interest on the executive side on this, I think it speaks to the fact that everybody is paying a lot of attention right now to what’s going on in college sports,” Baker said.
“I’m up for anything that can help us get somewhere.”
Baker noted the NCAA has already spent time in Washington asking for congressional help that is focused on three big issues. Among the biggest: a patchwork of state laws that relate to how collegiate athletics work in individual states; and whether student-athletes should be considered employees.
“I think [Congress] can help us. I really do,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said during an interview with ACC Network. “We have been very bold in the desire for a national standard when it comes to name, image and likeness. We need to make sure that we have something that comes out of Washington that connects all 50 of the states because we’ve had a piecemeal project and it’s really undermined college sports. It’s been a race to the bottom. So that’s one. Two is we need some legal protection. We cannot sustain one legal case after another legal case after another legal case. A reaffirmation that these are student-athletes. Those three things to me will be very important to see if that can come out of the commission.”
Baker said, “People in our office have talked to folks who are working on this, but I don’t think they’ve decided the framework around who they want to put on.”
When asked whether he felt the creation of a commission would enhance the NCAA’s chances at legislative relief, Baker said, “I don’t have a crystal ball on that one. I don’t know. I do think, though, that it’s quite clear at this point that there are a lot of people interested in college sports, and we do need some help at some point to create some clarity around some of these issues in Washington. Creating clarity one lawsuit at a time is just a really bad way to try to move forward.”