Mookie Betts cemented himself as one of the best right fielders in baseball, but he and the Los Angeles Dodgers crafted a plan for a position change to second base heading into the season.
But there was yet another adjustment during Spring Training as Gavin Lux struggled at shortstop and switched positions with Betts.
It was not an overly smooth transition for Betts despite having a desire and some previous experience at shortstop. His early days were filled with with some trial and error amid becoming acclimated to the demands of the position.
However, slowly but surely Betts began to look more and more comfortable with his new role on the Dodgers. But upon suffering a left hand fracture, the Dodgers relied on Miguel Rojas at shortstop and Betts returned to play right field.
During his time as Dodgers shortstop, Betts shared with Lux how difficult it was to learn shortstop on the fly, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“But the fact is, this is all new to me, man. This is all new. And it’s going to take more than two months to get. I was talking to (Gavin) Lux during the game (last week), and I was like, ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.’”
While Betts did improve defensively at shortstop, it coincided with a lull at the plate for multiple weeks. Some logically connected the dots to hypothesize that increased time devoted to defensive work negatively affected his offensive game, though Betts regularly dismissed that notion.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman also did not believe there was any connection.
Now back in right field, Betts has been a spark for the Dodgers since returning to the lineup last week.
Mookie Betts not focusing on Dodgers’ magic number
Even with a rash of injuries throughout the season, the Dodgers are closing in on clinching the National League West title for the 11th time in the past 12 years.
That’s not a concern for Betts, though, as he recently said how the team fares is the postseason ultimately is what’s most important.
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