When Joc Pederson signed with the Chicago Cubs last month, questions were raised as to how the Los Angeles Dodgers would replace his production in left field. The club reportedly considered signing Marcell Ozuna, but decided to stay in-house.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently revealed that AJ Pollock, Chris Taylor and Matt Beaty will all see time at the position this season. “I expect AJ, who’s always hit righties and lefties, to be out in left field,” Roberts said.
“I know Chris Taylor does the same thing, so he’s going to need his at-bats. Then you kind of layer in Matt Beaty getting some repetitions and at-bats in left field, which I feel really good about.
“Joc is a hard guy to replace, but I think it’s going to be a high-class problem to make sure these talented players get these at-bats out there.”
With Pollock expected to receive most of the playing time in left field and Taylor moving all around the diamond, the Dodgers want to make sure Beaty gets his fair share of at-bats as well.
One possible solution could be Beaty playing more right field this season on days when Mookie Betts is out of the lineup. Beaty has made multiple starts there so far in Cactus League play and looked comfortable.
“It’s a combo of to get him at-bats and get him familiar with playing right field,” Roberts said of Beaty playing right field. “He’s played a lot of first, third and left field. You look at the landscape of our roster, having Mookie out there, if there is a day he can take off, to get a left-handed bat in there is good.
“Matt’s just done a good job of getting himself mentally and physically prepared. Just excited for him. I really him. He’s worked really hard this winter, so to give him every opportunity to get at-bats, I think is a good thing for the Dodgers.”
Betts evaluates play with Dodgers in 2020 as ‘serviceable
After exceeding lofty expectations in his first season with the Dodgers, Betts modestly described his individual performance as “serviceable,” which Roberts responded by laughing.
“Man, I’ll take serviceable then if that’s what he classified it as,” Roberts said. “Mookie, like all great players, the expect a lot from themselves.
“There’s a lot of things that he did that were underlying that helped us win baseball games and enhance the Dodgers organization. I certainly would think it’s more than serviceable. We won the championship and that was the ultimate goal.”
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