Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described the choice between Alex Freeland and Hyeseong Kim for the final roster spot as “probably the toughest decision of the spring.”
In the end, the Dodgers optioned Kim to triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday before the Freeway Series opener.
“There’s no doubt that Hyeseong at some point is gonna come help us out,” Roberts said. “I think the driver, as far as at the outset, was giving Hyeseong an opportunity to play every day, play all over the diamond … whereas here, he just wouldn’t have the runway to do that, to play more frequently.”
Against right-handed pitching, Freeland, a switch hitter, is expected to get the majority of the playing time at second base, platooning with right-handed hitting Miguel Rojas.
Freeland is helping to cover for the absence of utility player Tommy Edman, who underwent offseason ankle surgery and is set to start the season on the injured list.
“When Doc told me, I just got the chills,” Freeland said. “I’ve just been dreaming of this since I was four years old.”
If the Dodgers had simply based the decision on Kim and Freeland’s Cactus League production, Kim would have had the edge. Freeland hit just .116, whereas Kim had a .407 batting average and .967 OPS, albeit in just nine spring training games.
Kim’s bat cooled in the World Baseball Classic. He went one for 12 with Team Korea. His only hit was a home run.
“He wasn’t in a great place, certainly, in the WBC with his mechanics,” Roberts said. “I think the only thing I would say that hurt him was, he wasn’t around our guys to really build on some of the stuff that they were working through.”
Kim will get that time and consistency to address the plate-discipline issues that plagued him after a hot start to spring. And although Roberts described Kim as an “excellent, elite second baseman,” he said Kim will also play shortstop and center field in triple A.
Dodgers second baseman Hyeseong Kim fields a grounder against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 16.
(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
Still, Roberts acknowledged that not making the team out of camp was a “gut punch.”
“No one works harder than he does,” Roberts said. “You encourage him, and you’re proud he went to the WBC to represent his country. You don’t run away from the fact that he had a good spring while he was here.”
Freeland punctuated his case to make the opening day roster with a home run in the team’s Cactus League finale Saturday. Although he struggled at the plate, he said the mechanical adjustments he made from the left side felt good. He focused on his setup posture and honed his thought process in the batter’s box.
“With Alex, with what he’s done in triple A already, he’s really played well there,” Roberts said. “There’s nothing left for him to prove there.”
Freeland got a 29-game taste of the majors last season.
“I think just being there and experiencing it just makes me feel comfortable to be around the guys,” Freeland said. “I know what my role is. I grew up a lot this offseason and taking in what I learned from last year. I just feel like I’m uber-prepared.”
The Dodgers also reassigned utilityman Nick Senzel, outfielder Jack Suwinski and catcher Seby Zavala to minor-league camp.
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski is slated to provide length out of the bullpen the first time through the rotation and eventually serve as the sixth starter.
The rotation will include Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Emmet Sheehan, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani — not necessarily in that order, but with Yamamoto scheduled for opening day and Ohtani scheduled to pitch the fifth game, according to Roberts.
Glasnow strong in Freeway Series opener 
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow walks to the dugout before starting against the Angels at Angel Stadium on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
On the run-prevention side of the Dodgers’ blowout Freeway Series victory Sunday, Glasnow held the Angels to one run and three hits while recording 11 strikeouts. He threw 88 pitches over five innings.
“It’s the best he’s looked,” Roberts said before the Dodgers’ 13-5 win. “The best he’s looked mechanically, where his headspace is at, it’s by far the best we’ve seen.”
Glasnow’s curveball played a large role, generating 13 whiffs.
“[Sunday] was probably a little bit more like sequencing like I would in the regular season,” Glasnow said. “I don’t think I had the mindset of trying to work on stuff. I think [it] was more about putting guys away today.”