Freddie Freeman Shares Perspective on Dodgers Lineup Order

Freddie Freeman has been in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup for four Cactus League games thus far as he marches toward a goal of taking 45 to 50 at-bats to prepare for the regular season.

Amid that goal, Freeman has made three starts as the cleanup hitter in the Dodgers lineup. He hit second this past Saturday, presumably due in large part to the Dodgers being in split-squad action.

Freddie Freeman embracing Dodgers lineup order

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently confirmed the likely outcome for the regular season is to have Kyle Tucker batting second in the lineup and Freeman slotted fourth.

"I don't really change. I really don't," Freeman said of his approach when discussing the lineup order on SportsNet LA. "I've always loved to be in the middle of the lineup with guys in scoring position. I love when there's guys on base so I can either move them first to third, or drive them in. That's what we're trying to do in the middle of the lineup.

"We've got some great guys at the top that are going to be pushing around .380 to .400 on-base percentage, so there should be a lot of opportunities. You just try to put the ball in play. Being in the four-hole, hopefully there will be a lot of opportunities to cash them in and get some runs on the board for us to win a lot of ballgames."

Freddie Freeman's stats as cleanup hitter

Freeman has spent the overwhelming majority of his career hitting third in a lineup, be it the Atlanta Braves or Dodgers. He's started 1,378 games there, followed by 367 in the two-hole.

There then is another drop-off but Freeman's third-most starts are as a cleanup hitter, in the form of 192 games. Included in that were 47 starts as the Dodgers' cleanup hitter last season. Freeman batted .283/.353/.478 with 12 doubles, seven home runs and 33 RBI in such games.

Overall in his career, Freeman has hit .294..365..492 with 41 doubles, three triples, 33 homers and 135 RBI in 194 games (192 starts) when placed in the cleanup spot. Freeman started a career-high 82 games in the four-hole during the 2013 season. Last year's 47 games are second-most for a single season.

The Dodgers ultimately didn't have a wrong scenario when deciding where to place Tucker and Freeman in the lineup. Tucker's youth and speed likely tipped the scale in his favor to hit behind Shohei Ohtani.

The biggest change is coming for Mookie Betts as he's being dropped to batting third. It's a spot he has not regularly hit from at any point of his career. The bulk of Betts' 66 career games (64 starts) in the three-hole came when he started 40 games there for the Boston Red Sox in 2017.