Alex Freeland has a Dodgers MVP in his corner as he falls behind in 2B battle

Hyeseong Kim has already made a couple of statements to establish himself as the frontrunner in the Dodgers' battle for second base. He hit a bomb off of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in live batting practice and has looked excellent in two spring training games so far: he's gone 3-for-7 at the plate with three RBI.

Alex Freeland, however, has made less noise. He went hitless with two walks against the Angels in the Dodgers' Cactus League opener, but collected a two-run double and two more walks against the Mariners on Monday.

Freeland is at a disadvantage in this fight. He's making far less money and has far less professional experience than Kim, and the Dodgers aren't good at planning for or around their top prospects. Freeland's 29-game stint in the majors last year was mostly unremarkable.

But where Kim clearly has Shohei Ohtani in his corner, Freeland has a Dodgers MVP rooting for him too. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic wrote that Mookie Betts has "been in Freeland’s ear for close to a year now."

Ardaya continued, "Before Freeland took some more groundballs on Friday, Betts checked in. It was a light day for Betts, so he pulled the rookie aside and talked with Freeland for about 10 minutes before sending him off to get to work."

Mookie Betts has taken top prospect Alex Freeland under his wing as Dodgers' 2B battle heats up

Freeland might be able to capitalize on Kim's upcoming absence from Dodgers camp, when he leaves to represent Korea in the World Baseball Classic. No doubt the Dodgers will keep an eye on how Kim does in the tournament, but Freeland will be right there, right in front of management and the coaching staff, presumably getting more spring starts at second or shortstop in Kim's absence.

If the top prospect can impress and earn that interim roster spot, it could solve some problems for the Dodgers. They're clearly not fully sold on Kim, and he could be a valuable trade chip given his experience, defensive versatility, and team-friendly contract.

The plate discipline that Freeland's already showed early into games is a positive sign — and par for the course, given that his eye at the plate is one of his most highly-touted attributes as a prospect. If he and Kim can keep matching each other beat for beat at the plate, defense could be the differentiator, and Freeland has a Gold Glove-nominated shortstop giving him pointers.