Freddie Freeman will bat 4th for Dodgers this year

The Dodgers lineup plans have taken shape over the first few weeks of spring training, with the welcome task of figuring out where to insert newcomer Kyle Tucker into an increasingly stacked lineup.

Freddie Freeman, who collected three of his planned 47 plate appearances this spring on Saturday at Camelback Ranch, spoke with Kirsten Watson on SportsNet LA from the dugout after his day was complete, and confirmed that he’ll bat fourth this season after hitting mostly third and some cleanup last season.

“I’ve always loved being in the middle of the lineup, with guys in scoring position,” Freeman said. “I love when there’s guys on base, and I can either move them from first to third or drive them in.”

The plan is for Tucker to hit second after Shohei Ohtani, followed by Mookie Betts and then Freeman. But what does Freeman gain by going from second or third to batting cleanup? Here are the plate appearances with runners on base and in scoring from 2025, by batting order, both league-wide and on the Dodgers.

Cleanup hitters, unsurprisingly, bat the most often both with runners on base and in scoring position. In 2025, the average MLB team saw its fourth hitter bat eight more times with runners on than No. 3 hitters, and 18 more times with a runner in scoring position.

Freeman started 96 times batting third last season and 47 times hitting fourth, plus two starts batting second. He did lead the Dodgers with 291 plate appearances with runners on base, one more than Mookie Betts, who hit mostly second with a smattering of first. Freeman’s 161 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, two more than Andy Pages, who saw three quarters of his starts batting fifth, sixth, or seventh.

So Freeman should get plenty of chances to do damage with runners on base this season, and brings us to today’s question: How many RBI will Freeman have in 2026?

But there’s one other thing I want to note, and it pertains to the top of the order. Ohtani is the best hitter in the National League, and a common question I see is why is he batting first rather than a bit lower in the order so his many hits and extra-base hits can drive more runners in. Ohtani and the Dodgers prefer to bat him first, which maximizes his total plate appearances, the main argument being that he does plenty of damage all by himself.

Perhaps the biggest impact of adding Tucker will be not in the top of the lineup but at the bottom. After all, with Freeman hitting fourth, the Dodgers will have plenty of lineups with Teoscar Hernández, Max Muncy, Andy Pages, and Tommy Edman hitting sixth or lower.

Dodgers seventh-through-ninth batters last year collectively batted .228/.294/.369, ranking 20th in on-base percentage in MLB. With better hitters batting lower in the order in 2026, that will likely mean more runners on base when Ohtani comes to the plate. Even if that leads to more intentional walks for Ohtani, the Dodgers have Tucker right behind him. That’s plenty of chances to do damage.