PHOENIX — Mookie Betts probably thought it would be the most difficult job he would ever love.
But he didn’t really think about whether it would be temporary.
“No, not really,” the Dodgers’ accidental shortstop says. “If there’s changes made and I have to move back to second or wherever, that’s fine. I don’t care. I just want to win. If it is permanent, I’m prepared for that too.
“I think I’m kind of prepared for anything at this point. I’m more intentional about everything and that’s allowed me to be ready for any surprises that come.”
Moving to shortstop a month into spring training was a surprise in itself. The Dodgers had spent the winter saying the job belonged to Gavin Lux – as much to build his confidence in his return from last spring’s knee injury as anything.
A week into March, though, the Dodgers made their Gold Glove outfielder – already making a move to second base – their new shortstop, moving him onto a side of the diamond he had never made his home and into a critical defensive position that he hadn’t played since Class-A before starting 12 games there last season.
The move seemed like only a temporary solution – echoing a reporter’s phrase, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it “permanent for now.”
The expectation was that the Dodgers would swing a trade before the in-season deadline to add a shortstop – someone who had played the position more frequently than Betts. The speculation had even been rampant during the offseason with many already skeptical about the Dodgers’ actual commitment to Lux.
But Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the move was not made as a temporary bandage at the position – and certainly isn’t now after watching Betts play there through the first 33 games of the season.
“No. But I will say that where he is right now is where we hoped he would be in July, August,” Friedman says of Betts’ defense at the new position.
“We have not started wrapping our arms around the trade deadline yet. But the point in doing this was to give Mookie a runway.”
That runway, Friedman says, would allow everyone involved “to see how much he likes it, to see the effects on him, to evaluate all things.”
Betts has made four errors at shortstop (none in his more limited time at second base), fifth at the position (all on throws). By Fielding Bible’s ‘Defensive Runs Saved’ measure, Betts ranks second behind Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. among shortstops (tied with St. Louis rookie Masyn Winn).
If the Dodgers are going to look for a new shortstop before the trade deadline, they will find it difficult to find an upgrade at a thin position.
The most frequent names mentioned in speculation are Milwaukee’s Willy Adames and Toronto’s Bo Bichette. The Brewers were unwilling to move Adames during the offseason and aren’t likely to be more motivated now that they sit in first place in a winnable division. The Blue Jays don’t look like contenders and could make Bichette available. But he is batting .205 with an OPS-plus thoroughly underwater (62) and privately the Dodgers don’t think he would be an upgrade defensively over Betts.
“Right now, where he’s at, I certainly think he’s playing an above-average shortstop. I think the metrics will agree with that,” Roberts said this week, adding that he would no longer consider using Miguel Rojas as a ‘defensive closer,’ putting him in games late at shortstop and moving Betts to second.
“I’d grade him (Betts) out a solid B+ for me. And it’s hard to imagine me even saying that right now, given that he started not playing the position. So it’s really, really impressive. And it’s only going to get better.”
The position switch hasn’t affected his offense. Even by Betts’ elite standards, his start to the season has been exceptional. Last year’s runner-up in the National League MVP voting is slashing .377/.481/.623 with six home runs and 25 RBIs. He leads the majors in batting average, on-base percentage, runs (29), hits (49), walks (26) and total bases (81).
“I’m trying to wrap my head around any comparable, as far as on the hitting side, the (defensive) side,” Roberts said. “I haven’t seen it. You’re talking about a complete position change. And to play it at a high level at that position, I just haven’t seen it.”
Friedman finds it just as difficult to find a comparable for a superstar player willing to accept the challenge of such a drastic position change even at the risk of failure and damage to his reputation.
“I don’t think enough has been made of how much of a selfless act it was for Mookie to accept the challenge of moving to a new position,” Friedman said. “It goes back to just caring about winning and if this helps us win, he’s all for it.”
If the Dodgers’ odds of winning improve with another shortstop, Betts says he’s all for it and would not view it as an insult after all the extra work he has put in.
“No. I mean, I’ve been doing it for a month. There’s guys that have been doing it for 10-plus years and are very, very, very good at their jobs,” Betts said. “Whatever it takes to win. I have no ego at all. No ego at all. I just care about winning and if that’s what we feel like we need to do to win let’s do it. I know I can play on the field, I feel like anywhere. So as long as we’re making ourselves better, that’s all I care about.”
A lot can change in the nearly three months left before this year’s July 30 deadline. If the Dodgers do decide the best way to improve their team is by acquiring a shortstop, Friedman said “we will communicate with him (Betts), get a feel for what he’s thinking, he’ll get a feel for what we’re thinking as things play out.”
“But right now I would bet on him being an above-average shortstop,” Friedman says.
Would he also be willing to bet that Betts will still be the Dodgers’ primary shortstop when August arrives?
“Yeah, I would,” he says. “With how quickly he has taken to it, the plays he’s made. The last piece is syncing up his body on various throws that are just different than what he’s done.
And it was a piece that we knew would take a little time was the throwing – just in terms of how to organize your body to make various throws and we’ve already seen real improvement. So if that continues, he’s a good major-league shortstop.”