{"id":603749,"date":"2026-03-03T15:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/603749\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:29:15","slug":"santiago-espinal-alex-freeland-the-battle-for-roster-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/603749\/","title":{"rendered":"Santiago Espinal, Alex Freeland & the battle for roster spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santiago Espinal had two more hits in three at-bats in the Dodgers\u2019 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday in Scottsdale, keeping his Cactus League on-base percentage at a tidy .667, having reached base 12 times in 18 at-bats.<\/p>\n

Espinal has eight hits, including two doubles this spring, plus four walks, putting his best foot forward.<\/p>\n

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The day he signed a minor league deal was the same day manager Dave Roberts officially ruled out Tommy Edman for opening day<\/a> as he rehabs from ankle surgery. That opened up a competition for playing time at second base<\/a> and potentially by extension, a bench spot. Roberts that day mentioned Espinal as being in the mix for making the roster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Espinal has been used like a veteran working his way into a season this spring, having started six times in 10 days, on an every-other-day schedule other than back-to-back efforts on Friday and into Saturday\u2019s split-squad day.<\/p>\n

Jack Harris at The California Post last week wrote about Espinal\u2019s potential path to making the Dodgers roster<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dodgers told me I\u2019d have a great opportunity here to compete,\u201d Espinal told The California Post this week. \u201cAnd as soon as I got here, they welcomed me with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThings bode well for him,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said Friday, offering a hint about Espinal\u2019s chances of breaking camp with the club. \u201cHe\u2019s really a helpful, winning player in my opinion, (who) raises the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five of Espinal\u2019s six starts have come at third base this spring, plus another start at second base. Those are the two positions he\u2019s played the most in his six seasons in the majors, plus a little bit of shortstop and left field at times. In many ways, Espinal fills the void left by Andy Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez, who was signed to a one-year, $1.2 million deal in January but was then lost on waivers to the A\u2019s. Both are right-handed batters, and Espinal\u2019s 107 career wRC+ against left-handed pitchers offer a glimpse to what his role might be if he makes the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

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The other two Dodgers vying for a roster spot with potential time at second base are Hyeseong Kim, a left-handed batter, and Alex Freeland, a switch-hitter who has better numbers while batting lefty since getting drafted in 2022.<\/p>\n

Kim started four games \u2014 three at second base, once in center field \u2014 before leaving to play for Korea in the World Baseball Classic, and had six hits in 13 at-bats (.462) with a home run. Freeland has started seven games, five at shortstop, twice at second. He has three hits, including two doubles in 14 at-bats plus six walks this spring for a .429 on-base percentage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just like the way he\u2019s playing, whether it\u2019s at second, at short, in the box, batting left-handed, batting right-handed. I think right now, he\u2019s just comfortable being who he is, comfortable in the clubhouse,\u201d Roberts said of Freeland, to Kirsten Watson after Monday\u2019s game on SportsNet LA<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s had a big offseason. He came in a lot more mature for me, and just the way he\u2019s going about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s room on the Dodgers roster for at least two of Espinal, Kim, and Freeland, at least until Edman is ready. There are the other eight lineup regulars plus backup catcher Dalton Rushing and veteran infielder Miguel Rojas \u2014 himself a candidate for playing time at second base \u2014 as roster locks. That leaves three open spots on the active roster. One of those spots will probably go to an outfielder, and whether Kim counts in that regard will go a long way in determining whether all three of Espinal, Kim, and Freeland are active three weeks from now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santiago Espinal had two more hits in three at-bats in the Dodgers\u2019 win over the Colorado Rockies on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[22432,3806,291,5,52,10900,1560,39,1393,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,8935,4,1552,880],"class_list":["post-603749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-angels","tag-alex-freeland","tag-andy-ibanez","tag-angels","tag-baseball","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-dave-roberts","tag-dodgers","tag-hyeseong-kim","tag-la","tag-la-angels","tag-laangels","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesangels","tag-miguel-rojas","tag-mlb","tag-santiago-espinal","tag-tommy-edman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116165959224491276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}