How Tommy Edman became the Dodgers' ideal Swiss Army Knife

Staff Writer

Published Oct. 1, 2024 Updated Oct. 2, 2024 9:51 AM PT

If Andrew Friedman donned a white coat and protective goggles and went into a lab to create the perfect position-playing depth piece for the Dodgers, he would walk out with Tommy Edman.

The team’s president of baseball operations has long placed a premium on versatility, and Edman is a Swiss Army Knife of a utility man, one who can play three outfield and three infield positions and excels at the all-important up-the-middle spots — shortstop, second base and center field.

In addition to his defensive dexterity, Edman, 29, is a switch-hitter who has historically been equally productive from both sides of the plate, giving manager Dave Roberts maximum flexibility for daily lineup decisions and in-game moves.

“To be able to play so many different positions and do so at such a high level, with the switch-hitting ability, the contact skills, the foot speed … there are just so many aspects that can help you win a game,” Friedman said. “He’s a guy who has been on our radar a long time.”

That’s why the Dodgers jumped at the chance to acquire Edman from St. Louis at the trade deadline despite the fact that Edman, part of a three-team deal that also netted closer Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox, had yet to play a game in 2024 because of offseason wrist surgery and an ankle sprain.

The Dodgers have two versatile utility men in Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor, but both bat right-handed, and neither is as proficient in the middle infield as Edman, who won a Gold Glove Award at second base for the Cardinals in 2021 and accumulated 10 outs above average at shortstop in 2022, tied for fourth among big leaguers at the position.

Edman didn’t play his first game for the Dodgers until Aug. 19, but he quickly emerged as a key contributor during the team’s run to the National League West title and baseball’s best record, batting .237 with a .711 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, six homers and 20 RBIs in 37 games.

Edman, who hit four homers in a two-game span against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 10-11, including one from each side of the plate in the latter game, has started 22 games in center field and 13 at shortstop, allowing the Dodgers to pace veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas, who has been slowed by a left-adductor strain.

The Dodgers' Tommy Edman heads to first for a solo home run during the second inning of a game against the Cubs on Sept. 10.

Four times, Edman has moved from center field to shortstop during a game with no discernable drop-off defensively. He moved from shortstop to center field once.

“It’s really tough,” Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel said of the transition. “You’ve got to throw with a long arm, where you really get out in front of it, from the outfield, whereas in the infield, your throws are short and quick, you have to turn double plays and go into the six-hole.

“And depth perception is a challenge. You’re going from a 100-mph groundball hit to you on the dirt to center field, where balls are slicing, they have backspin or top spin. It’s a big adjustment, and it takes a special player, an elite defender, to bounce between center field and shortstop. He does it with a plus glove.”

The 5-foot-10, 193-pound Edman, in the first year of a two-year, $16.5-million contract that runs through 2025, is more of a complementary piece than an impact bat — he’ll hit seventh or eighth when the Dodgers open the NL Division Series on Saturday, and he won’t be expected to carry the offense.

Edman’s splits in a small sample size this season were more extreme. He hit .181 (18 for 105) with a .523 OPS from the left side and .412 (14 for 34) with a 1.299 OPS from the right side but has a career .256 average and .689 OPS in 1,757 at-bats from the left side and a .284 average and .831 OPS in 609 at-bats from the right side.

He also closed the regular season in a two-for-30 slump (.067) that dropped him from the .284 average and .824 OPS he sported on Sept. 19.

But if Edman can heat up at the plate in October, he would add considerable length to the playoff lineup, an added bonus to the many intangibles he brings on offense and defense.

“When we made the trade, I got a call from Albert Pujols, and he said you’re going to love this guy because he’s a baseball player,” Ebel said, referring to the former Angels and Dodgers slugger who played with Edman in St. Louis in 2022. “He can hit from both sides of the plate, he’s shown some power, he can play short, second and center field.

“He’s fundamentally sound, he makes the routine play, he knows how to run the bases, he can bunt, he can hit-and-run, and he’s got the talent to be on a championship-caliber team and to win a World Series.”

This did not happen by accident.

There were three defining moments in Edman’s life that convinced his father, John, now in his 25th year as La Jolla Country Day School’s baseball coach, that his son might have what it takes to excel at the youth-league level, play major college ball and reach the big leagues.

The first was in the spring of 1998, when John Edman was a graduate assistant coach at Michigan and the Wolverines traveled to Notre Dame for an NCAA regional with toddler Tommy in tow.

“We were playing Wiffle ball on campus under Touchdown Jesus, and he squared a ball up right off my forehead,” John Edman, 53, said. “The ball has those little holes, so the rest of the weekend, I had a Wiffle ball mark on my forehead. It was one of those experiences that you never forget. He had a pretty decent swing for a little 3-year-old.”

The second light-bulb moment was in the spring of 2011, when Tommy, then a 5-foot-9, 150-pound sophomore at La Jolla Country Day, led off the CIF San Diego section Division 4 championship game at San Diego State with a home run over the 365-foot sign in left-center field.

Tommy Edman playing for La Jolla Country Day School.

“I didn’t think too much of it, but the next thing I know, San Diego State brought him in for a visit, and [then-coach] Tony Gwynn offered him a scholarship right after his sophomore year,” John said. “I guess that’s the first time I had more of an outsider’s perspective on what [Tommy] was like as a ballplayer.”

The third came in the winter after the 2018 season, which Edman, a sixth-round pick of the Cardinals out of Stanford in 2016, spent at double-A Springfield (Mo.) and triple-A Memphis.

“It was the year before he got his first big-league call-up in 2019, I was throwing batting practice to him in the offseason, and he just looked different,” John Edman said. “All of a sudden, he was hitting for some power. I remember telling my wife, ‘I think he’s got a shot.’ He was playing well in the minor leagues, but something seemed like it clicked.”

A can’t-miss prospect or bonus baby, Edman was not. He had a solid, but not spectacular, three-year career at Stanford, batting .281 with a .726 OPS, four homers, 31 doubles and 71 RBIs in 168 games. He signed with the Cardinals for $236,400, the exact slot value assigned to his pick and not a penny more.

But as he rose through the Cardinals’ system and eventually established himself as a big leaguer, Edman developed a reputation for being fundamentally sound, versatile and polished on both sides of the ball, a player who didn’t wow you with eye-popping tools but did everything extremely well.

Growing up the son of a high school coach clearly rubbed off on him.

“I learned a lot about the game at a pretty young age, and I was always around my father’s high school teams, whether I was just shagging balls in the outfield or just watching his games,” Edman said. “So I think I learned about the game pretty early.

Tommy Edman poses with his family on his graduation day from Stanford.

“[My father] has a great baseball mind. He taught me a lot of things. He was always willing to help me work, to hit groundballs and to throw me batting practice.”

When Tommy was 10 years old, John and his brother-in-law built a batting cage in the backyard of the family home in the Tierrasanta section of San Diego, commissioning a local company to cut steel pipes to size, ordering aircraft cable and netting from a batting-cage company, digging holes manually and pouring concrete for the footings.

“It wasn’t a fancy design, by any means,” said John Edman, who is also a math teacher at his school. “I talked to a bunch of people and figured out how to do it.”

The cage remained in the yard until Tommy headed off to the minor leagues in 2016.

“If Tommy wanted to hit for 15 minutes to build some confidence, blow off steam or take a break from his homework, he could just go outside and do it,” John said. “It was so much more convenient than having to go to the field every time you want to hit.”

Tommy wasn’t the only Edman to go into the family business. His older brother, Johnny, works as a data engineer and an independent-league scout for the Minnesota Twins, and his younger sister, Elise, worked as a data engineer for the Cardinals for two years before moving to a private sector job.

But Tommy is the one who benefited most from his father’s guidance, combining his own talent, work ethic and coach-on-the-field instincts to develop into the well-rounded player he is today.

“I think it’s just playing the game the right way, always playing hard and making the smart decisions on the field, whether that’s base-running or defense, just having a good baseball IQ,” Edman said, when asked how his father influenced his development. “It’s trying to always do the right thing on the field.”

Those attributes are among the many Edman qualities the Dodgers were enamored with from afar and are now counting on to help push the team through October.

“It’s very cool to be valued by one of the greatest organizations in baseball, and now, looking at it, I kind of see how it makes sense, knowing the versatility I have and how the Dodgers prioritize versatility,” Edman said. “It’s been fun. I feel like I fit in well here. And hopefully I’ll continue to contribute at the level that I’ve been.”

How Tommy Edman became the Dodgers’ ideal Swiss Army Knife

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