When the Los Angeles Dodgers announced the Mookie Betts shortstop experiment was over last season, many fans sighed with relief when the star returned to right field.
Betts is a six-time Gold Glove winner in right field, it’s a position he thrives in and is most comfortable in. But when the Dodgers asked him to make the switch to shortstop in 2024, a practically unheard of request, Betts complied.
“I just want to win,” Betts said in September.
Last spring training, Betts began Cactus League play as the Dodgers’ second baseman. But he was quickly moved to shortstop when Gavin Lux showed difficulty with being the team’s infield quarterback.
The Dodgers star had little time to adjust to the new position, and it showed at times in his defense. This offseason, the Dodgers announced Betts would be returning to shortstop for the 2025 season and he spent the winter preparing to do so.
The progress Betts has made this offseason is second to none, according to five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
“I couldn’t believe the strides that he made,” Tulowitzki said. “I say to do something, and it’s pretty much done in a day or two. And then once he went home, he would send me video back, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s it, man.’ Talk about a pretty easy guy to work with. He’s special.”
“I wouldn’t say this for anybody else that’s just spent however many years in the outfield and then go to the infield,” Tulowitzki said of a position change that has no equivalent in recent baseball history. “But I can truly tell you, I think he can be an elite defender at the position — which is just crazy to say.
“To be one of the best defenders in the game, if not the best with the Platinum Gloves and Gold Gloves and all that, and then to go to shortstop. I’d watch him play [last year] and was like, ‘Eh, he’s OK there.’ But that’s what he should be.”
Heading into the 2025 season, Betts playing at shortstop is no longer an experiment. An offseason of hard work has Betts poised to settle smoothly into his new role.
