Mookie Betts and Dodgers agree he should move from shortstop to right field
Mookie Betts and the Dodgers took a long, hard look at their lineup this week and came to the same conclusion: They are a better team with Betts in right field, the position he has won six Gold Glove Awards at, as opposed to shortstop, the position he was thrust into this spring and played competitively — but not at a Gold Glove level — for 2 1/2 months.
Roberts made the move official before Friday night’s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he announced that Betts, who has missed two months because of a left-hand fracture, will return to right field when he is activated for Monday night’s series opener at Milwaukee, with the slick-fielding Miguel Rojas remaining at shortstop. Roberts had said on Tuesday that Betts would return at shortstop.
“I think it was kind of a mutual thing, but I would say I mostly went to them,” said Betts, 31. “I said, ‘Listen, I believe I can do it, but I want to win, man. I want to win. And I don’t know if me [at shortstop] is the best solution.’
“I loved the challenge of playing shortstop, but you also have to be real with yourself and the team, and do what’s best. That’s what I’ve preached from the beginning. All I want to do is win. I just feel like Miggy and Nick Ahmed being there, that’s winning baseball.”
Mookie Betts’ move to shortstop has sharpened his focus on the game, especially at the plate so far this season for the Dodgers.
Betts was moved from right field to second base last winter, but when shortstop Gavin Lux committed several throwing errors in spring training, the Dodgers moved Betts to shortstop, a position he hadn’t played regularly since high school, and Lux to second.
The eight-time All-Star worked tirelessly before every game in an effort to become proficient at his new position. He committed nine errors — eight of them throwing — in the 65 games he played at shortstop, but he improved as he gained experience and accumulated five defensive runs saved there, according to Fangraphs.
But when Rojas returned from a forearm injury on Wednesday and with Lux one of the team’s hottest hitters for the past month, Roberts felt the Dodgers would be best served with Betts in right field, a move that will push right fielder Jason Heyward to the bench and Teoscar Hernández from right field to left.
“We’re in a pennant race right now — we have a [2 ½-game] lead — so we have to do what’s best for the club,” Roberts said. “As Mookie continued to take balls [in right field] we just felt that the overall confidence in his play at shortstop in a pennant race versus right field, given what we have on the roster, it made sense for him to kick out to right field.”
Roberts said he has had ongoing conversations with Betts about “what’s best for him, what’s best for the team.” Betts will also move from his customary leadoff spot to the second spot in the order, with Shohei Ohtani remaining in the leadoff spot. But the two had a lengthy conversation focusing on defense on Thursday.
One look at the players the Dodgers picked up before the trade deadline, and it’s clear Mookie Betts could help them more in right field than in the infield.
“This is kind of essentially reading the room, me and him talking,” Roberts said. “And that’s part of my job, to kind of get a feel for where he’s at, and where the ballclub is at. And this is something that both of us feel, the organization too, is the best thing for the Dodgers in 2024.
“You look at how Gavin’s playing, and he’s earned the right to continue to play second base, and you essentially have two Gold Glovers [Rojas and Ahmed] at shortstop. I think the whole idea, the whole thought process is, ‘What’s our best nine or 10 guys?’ ”
Betts, in the fourth year of a 12-year, $365-million contract, hasn’t played right field this season, but he has made 916 of his 1,299 career starts there and made several spectacular defensive plays during the team’s run to the 2020 World Series title.
“This is another — I’m not going to call it the same challenge as moving to shortstop — but I don’t know, I haven’t had to do this,” Betts said of the transition back to the outfield. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine. I’ve been doing that for a long time. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that’s more like riding a bike.”
Betts won’t miss the stress of playing shortstop.
Sooner or later, the Dodgers will have to make several determinations regarding Mookie Betts and the shortstop position.
“People don’t know, man,” Betts said. “Going to sleep at night wondering, ‘In the seventh inning, one out and a man at third, if it’s a backhand, you gonna make a play?’ That type of stuff keeps you up at night.
“The challenge is fun and I embrace it. But it does keep you up at night. The good thing is now knowing I’m going back out to right field, there’s no play, there’s nothing I haven’t done or I’m not prepared for. I can get a couple extra hours of sleep.”
The Dodgers were more than appreciative of Betts’ flexibility, adaptability and willingness to do whatever the team asks.
“There aren’t many people who would make themselves that vulnerable — not having done it that much, somebody with Gold Gloves, who was on a Hall-of-Fame track, to say, ‘Sure, I’ll go play shortstop, and I don’t know how it’s going to go,’ ” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said.
“I think it’s a testament to how special Mookie is as a player, an athlete and as a teammate. … Mookie is a superstar who is a rarity — ’Hey, I will take on any challenges to help the team.’ He’s somebody who puts the team first. He’s just, ‘I’m good with whatever, let’s go win a World Series.’ ”
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