Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Alex Freeland went viral after Thursday's blowout win against the Cincinnati Reds following his eighth inning at-bat. Freeland stepped up to the plate with catcher Jose Trevino on the mound, and didn't swing at any of the first five pitches of the at-bat—working a full count against the position player. The final pitch of the bat—much like the five pitches beforehand—was a knuckleball at the top of the zone.
The infielder put his whole body into a swing-and-miss effort, but lost his bat in the process—nearly sending it into a camera well. Thankfully, everyone was okay. Freeland's strikeout against the position player caused plenty of discourse on online forums, with users poking fun at the infielder for his unlikely strikeout.
"Trevino blows it by Freeland." X user Chad Moriyama wrote with a video of the at-bat attached. Despite his rough showing in his final at-bat of the game, Freeland had a decent showing for LA on Wednesday. He brought in a run in his first plate appearance of the inning, though grounded into a double play, and also smoked a double into the gap in the fourth to bring home a run.
Freeland also walked twice. Freeland stopped for a cup of coffee in the majors last season, playing 29 games with the big league club from July 2025 to Sept. 2025 before returning to the minors. He broke camp with the MLB team this season, earning a spot on the Opening Day roster after a solid campaign in the Cactus League.
The infielder remained with the big league team through May 11, posting a .646 OPS before heading back down to the minors. Freeland returned to the team later in the month, though, spending another couple of months with the team before heading back to Triple-A at the end of July. The Dodgers didn't keep him there, though, as he came up once more for September call-ups.
Through 81 games in his yo-yo season with the Dodgers, he has three homers and 20 RBIs, posting a .612 OPS this season. The Dodgers have bundles of talent in MiLB at the moment, so Freeland could be on a short leash given the talent currently on the team's 40-man roster as the postseason nears. He'll look to take the positives from his performance on Wednesday and carry some momentum into the team's next series, which begins on Friday against the Miami Marlins.
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