Tommy Edman has never hit more than 13 home runs in any of his six previous MLB seasons.
After just 15 games this year, he’s almost halfway there.
With an easy swing on a knee-high changeup in the sixth inning Friday night, Edman ended what had been a pitcher’s duel between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chicago Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd. He turned a blank scoreline into a three-run Dodgers lead. And, in perhaps the most unexpected twist of the team’s blistering start to this season, Edman joined a five-way tie for the majors’ early lead in home runs, belting his sixth to lift the Dodgers to a 3-0 win at Dodger Stadium.
Home runs, of course, are not why the Dodgers long coveted Edman early in his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Power is not one of the primary traits they thought they were acquiring when the 29-year-old arrived in a three-way trade at the deadline last summer.
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His positional versatility, switch-hitting abilities, and Gold Glove-caliber defense across the diamond are what club executives treasured most. Plays like the one he made in the top of the sixth inning Friday, when he sprinted some 50 feet from a shifted position behind second base to reach a ground ball in the hole and make a spinning throw from the shallow outfield grass to first, are what they envisioned.
But moments later, on a night the Dodgers had struggled to apply any pressure to Boyd, Edman flipped the script.
After Teoscar Hernández singled, and Freddie Freeman (who was returning from the injured list after what he described as a hugely beneficial 10-day rest for his ailing right ankle) was hit by a pitch, Edman jumped on a 1-and-0 changeup and brought a crowd of 53,933 to its feet.
Suddenly, MLB’s early-season home run leaderboard reads like this…
T-1st: Mike Trout (who is closing in on 400 career home runs)
T-1st: Aaron Judge (the three-time American League home run king)
T-1st: Kyle Schwarber (the 2022 National League home run king)
T-1st: Tyler Soderstrom (a power-hitting Athletics prospect)
And, T-1st: Edman (who hit a grand total of four home runs in his entire college career)
The Dodgers (11-4) ...
