Dodgers notes: Freddie Freeman, Ricky Vanasco, outfield defense

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is off to a hot start this season and coming off a fantastic May, thanks in part to a meticulous routine. He told Rowan Kavner at Fox Sports, “It’s a Freeman trait to be stubborn. You can ask my wife that. I’m very stubborn in my routine. I know how to get through 162 games pretty much healthy, able to conserve energy.”

Davy Andrews at FanGraphs marveled at the consistency of the line-drive maestro Freeman, even comparing him to a metronome. “It feels personal no matter who you root for, but Freeman is just an everybody killer,” Andrews wrote. “It’s a conundrum straight out of Catch-22.”

Alden Gonzalez at ESPN dug into how the Dodgers are winning in what he calls a “gap year” for the franchise. Among them, solid outfield defense, including leading the majors in outs above average.

Josh Thomas at Dodgers Digest looked at what kind of pitcher the newly-acquired Ricky Vanasco is, but also noted that the right-hander could end up getting a fourth option year in 2025.

Steve Garvey is considering running for the United States Senate in California, writes Seema Mehta at the Los Angeles Times.

In a weekend in which MLB is raising awareness about ALS and research on the disease, here’s a story about Sarah Langs of MLB.com, one of the absolute best people in the sport, written by Mandy Bell. This video has even more:

Langs also wrote about her journey with ALS for ESPN:

Especially in this age of social media, we’ve been conditioned to see such outpourings when someone is ill or dies. And that is all very well deserved. But I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen kind words echo about someone after that individual’s passing and wondered if — and hoped — that those sentiments had been heard by that person. I always find myself hoping that people knew how much they were loved.

We should be telling people who aren’t dying how much we appreciate them. We should be approaching each day with that mindset.