Alex Freeland (8-6-25)

Alex talks about his first week in the big leagues and being an inspiration for kids who have physical disabilities.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talking.
All right, he's here in the living flesh, having a
great time at the big league level and doing whatever
the Dodgers need. That's the one and only mullet Mustache himself.
Alex Freeland, thanks a lot for the time, Thank you
for having me on. Thank you man. I'm glad to

(00:21):
share you with the fans because I know you're having
a blast whether you're in Oklahoma City, but it's I'm
sure a lot more special doing it here.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, a lot more special, a lot more fun. There's
no place like this I'm taking in every moment.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Have you been able to just stay grounded and not
be overwhelmed by all this?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I mean, there's a lot going on already. I don't
I don't think I need to add anything to it.
So I just go out there and keep it, keep
it baseball, and just play.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
So so far in your first week in Major league baseball,
you've got your first hit from both sides of the plate.
You've driven in your first run, you've have two. You
played behind Clayton kurr Shaw on the road trip, and
today you're gonna play behind show Heyo, Tony, that's quite
a week.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah. My debut is with Shohey on the Mountain Sincy,
so it was pretty cool. Hopefully I can make up
for that miss ball that I had and then we'll
be on We'll be on talking terms again.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah. Does he Does he know your name? I don't know,
Ask him? Ask him. Alex Freeland is our guest. Alex.
I feel like in some points you're somewhat of an
inspiration for young people that have to overcome a lot.
For those that don't know, Alex was born with the
club right foot. I know you don't focus on it.
You've overcome it, you're a major league player, But do

(01:39):
you feel like you're an inspiration for young kids.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
I've definitely had some people reach out to me and
and and give me some kind words and say that
they're very inspirational. I mean, just my message to to
any kid out there that has overcomes him, it's not impossible.
You know, you just gotta you gotta get to the
top of the mountain and you can ride it on down.

(02:04):
But just keep going, putting one foot in front of
the other and just keep going.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
How many surgeries did you have to have on that
right foot.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
I think I had one full foot reconstruction and then
one other minor surgery to put like a couple of
screws in, But that was about it.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
When did you know that this dream could be realized?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I mean I always thought about it, like growing up
as a kid, like this is the only thing that
I ever wanted to do was to play major League baseball.
I think around uh, like high school, like my junior
senior year, it became like a reality in some sense,
like where I was like, yeah, like maybe I can
do this. So not around that time.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I know you're a fun loving guy. Your teammates love you,
whether it's okayc Tulsa Dodger Stadium. But from what coaches
told me, you're very detail oriented. Do people mistaken your
outward personality for just how serious you take it?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
I mean, I'm I definitely have an outward personality like
in the clubhouse and on the field, but like when
it's time to do my work, like I'm gonna be
focused and I'm very I'm very detail oriented, Like I
take it serious like this this is yes, it's it's
a game that we get to play, but it's my job.
So I'm gonna try and get better every single day
and take that work serious.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
What are the details? Is it trying to pick up
something from the picture. Is it coming out here to
do early work? What it exactly is paying attention to
the details.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
It's everything, like every aspect like coming out here to
do early work, like making sure like yeah, the drills
might be easy, but like how how focused can I
be doing these easy drills? And like how do I
be an expert at them? And as far as like
pitching and hitting stuff like that, Like we have, we

(03:52):
have all the tools in the world to be better,
So I try and use those tools and study pictures
and study study plan so, I mean, just any little
thing that can help me. I'm trying to trying to
be a master at it.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
I feel like your whole life is baseball. I don't
know anything about you except that you asked me for
music recommendations and you didn't use it.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, you you gave me some bad recommendations. Some bad recommendations.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Oh my gosh, slim shady, some poison. Come on. It
feels like that's who you are. No, all right, man,
nothing but a good a good time.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one. I'll give you
that one. I mean, yeah, baseball is the only thing
that I've ever wanted to do. I mean, of course,
there's like other stuff that I like to do, but
like I like the golf and fish, and I'm a
huge homebody, so like I'd much rather stay inside and

(04:48):
just chill, hang out, keep to myself.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
All right, sounds good. We'll allow you to do that.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Finally, since you've been all over me.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
You've been all over me since spring training. Let's not
get it twisted.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
He's lying