Dodgers’ Jason Heyward rekindles old friendship and old swing
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Get yourself a hype man like Jason Heyward has in Freddie Freeman.
“He trains hard, he works hard, his work ethic, he’s been around a long time, he’s won a championship,” Freeman said of his new old teammate this spring. “He’s just a wonderful person, and it’s big for this team to have him in this clubhouse.”
Freeman and Heyward played together for four-plus seasons in Atlanta. The Braves’ first-round pick in 2007, Heyward made the opening day roster in 2010. The Braves’ second-round pick in 2007, Freeman joined him as a September callup later that year.
But their friendship started well before that. They were teammates in the minor leagues, Freeman measuring himself against the organization’s top prospect and thinking, “I’ve got to do everything good so I can stay with Jason.”
But their friendship started even before that. The two met as opposing first baseman in the Aflac All-American Game at San Diego State in 2006, 16-year-olds fresh off their junior years in high school.
“He was on the East team. I was on the West team,” Freeman said. “We were all in the hotel and they had kind of a meeting room, a game room where we could all hang out. I don’t even know how it happened. Just for some reason we were drawn to each other and started hanging out every second that week we were there. Then we started playing a couple showcases … He was there. It was the start of a friendship.”
Getting drafted by the same organization took the friendship to another level.
“We were inseparable,” Freeman said. “We were kind of the same like-minded, goal-minded, wanted to get there as fast as possible. We weren’t into any off-the-field stuff. It was just one of those friendships that took off.”
Heyward calls it “super cool” that the two have been reunited eight years after he was traded by the Braves to the Cardinals. Heyward arrived in Arizona ahead of Freeman and sent him a video of their side-by-side lockers at Camelback Ranch.
Their big-league paths have diverged in more ways than one since their shared Braves days. Freeman has become a perennial MVP candidate, settling in at his new home with the Dodgers last year and finishing fourth in the NL voting. Heyward, meanwhile, saw his career go south on the north side of Chicago.
Signed to an eight-year, $184 million contract by the Cubs before the 2016 season, Heyward was credited with playing a key role as the Cubs won their World Series title in generations. But his offensive production declined to the point that the rebuilding Cubs told him in midseason last year that he was not part of their plans and they would be releasing him, despite owing him $22 million this season.
The 33-year-old Heyward had to face the harsh reality that his playing days might be over if no other team came calling.
“I can know what I want to do on my side. But I’m not the one that’s gonna pick up the phone. I can’t hire me,” Heyward said. “So I had to be real with myself about that, that someone might not pick up the phone.”
But Heyward had a mole on the inside. Freeman said he started “lobbying” Andrew Friedman to sign Heyward as soon as his time in Chicago ended.
“I put Jason’s name on the radar then I put it on again and just kept going and going and going,” Freeman said. “I just made sure to let Andrew know how wonderful of a man that guy is.”
The Dodgers took a low-cost flier on Heyward, signing him for the minimum salary ($720,000). The Cubs owe him the rest of his $22 million salary this season.
Heyward was all in immediately on reworking his swing to resurrect his faded offense.
“If you have the last year and a half the way I had, you’d expect to make changes in the offseason,” Heyward said.
“I was expecting to make changes and expecting to start from scratch, which was nice. That’s what I think was more valuable about the down time (after the Cubs phased him out) — not going out there and racking up more at-bats the wrong way, so to speak.”
Heyward spent two weeks of his offseason working out at Dodger Stadium and another week working out with Freeman in Orange County.
The Dodgers’ hitting coaches have asked Heyward to make “significant” changes, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. But Heyward said those changes are not anything new, just a ripping off of the Band-Aids he had applied to his swing over the years and returning him to a simpler swing that gives him a better chance to be “the best version of myself.”
Freeman, of course, gives the changes rave reviews.
“I love his adjustments,” Freeman said. “It’s a big difference. Usually his hands are going like that (moving back). They’re back now. He’s got a better chance to get to the ball.
“You’re going to see why he was a first-round pick.”
The Dodgers are going to need him to turn back the clock this year, even if it’s not that far. A non-roster invitee this spring, Heyward (4 for 10 with two home runs so far) is certain to make the opening day roster and the trickle-down effect of Gavin Lux’s injury has made him a big part of the plan in center field.
“The swing mechanically is a lot more clean,” Roberts said, adding that he is “bullish” on Heyward’s potential to make important contributions this season with that reworked swing. “He’s worked really hard this winter and it looks a lot better than it has in the past.”
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