Sports
How the Dodgers' Tommy Edman honed his craft thanks to his father's 'great baseball mind'
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 after hitting the first of his two home runs against the Cubs on Sept. 10.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
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.
(Courtesy of Edman family)
“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, center, played baseball at Stanford. Standing with him on his graduation day are, from left, his father John Edman; his mother, Maureen; his sister, Elise; and his wife, Kristen.
(Courtesy of Edman family)
“[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.”
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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