LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts was getting back from paternity go away, his automobile was caught in Chicago freeway gridlock for what appeared like an eternity and he arrived at Wrigley Field late for that night time’s sport.
The Los Angeles Dodgers knew upfront that Betts would miss the first pitch in opposition to the Cubs. And Manager Dave Roberts had put Betts on discover that after he arrived he was going to be taking part in shortstop for the first time in his main league profession — and for the first time at any degree in 10 years.
So which was extra harrowing for Betts, an All-Star outfielder and Most Valuable Player Award winner: the nervousness of being caught in visitors whereas the sport was beginning, or taking part in shortstop in the majors for the first time?
“Cab trip,” Roberts guessed with out lacking a beat.
Roberts, in his ninth season as the Dodgers’ supervisor, is understood for his superhuman-like communication along with his gamers. But on this query, he whiffed.
“Nah, man, going out to brief for the first time was undoubtedly extra nerve-racking,” Betts mentioned over the weekend at Dodger Stadium, the place he smashed two residence runs, drove in three runs, scored three extra and made his fifth begin. at shortstop whereas main the first-place Dodgers to a three-game sweep of the slumping San Diego Padres.
Betts’s reply, although, got here with a caveat: His debut at shortstop was extra nerve-racking as a result of his late arrival prevented him from taking any floor balls earlier than the sport.
“It was simply — bam!” Betts mentioned.
Sometimes, Betts allowed, it is best that method. Few issues rattle him on a baseball diamond, and a decade into his massive league profession, his antics and talents not shock his teammates. So his often filling in at shortstop and second base, along with having his ordinary outfield duties, is precisely the form of factor they’d anticipate him to do, no matter how ridiculous that sounds.
“I imply, the man bowls 300s in the morning and is available in and hits residence runs at night time,” first baseman Freddie Freeman mentioned, referencing certainly one of Betts’ extensively recognized hobbies. “The man’s a particular expertise. He’s a whole workforce participant, three completely different positions already this 12 months in the first 37, 38 video games. Switching positions and main off each single day, it is a robust job. But if anyone can deal with it, it is him.”
Betts’ more and more frequent infield assignments are born out of necessity. When final 12 months’s Dodgers shortstop, Trea Turner, signed an 11-year, $300 million take care of Philadelphia in the low season, the Dodgers made a acutely aware choice to step again with their very own payroll. The thought was to reset their roster, give alternatives to prospects similar to infielder Miguel Vargas and outfielder James Outman and parlay their years of successful — 9 National League West titles in 10 years — with out having to rebuild.
The Dodgers weren’t a lot slashing their payroll as choosing their spots. Although down from final 12 months’s determine, a league-high $270 million, their $225 million payroll in 2023 nonetheless ranks fifth in Major League Baseball.
The thought was to play Gavin Lux, a homegrown participant with a promising bat, at shortstop and Vargas at second. But when Lux suffered a season-ending knee harm in spring coaching, plans modified.
What the Dodgers had been left with was Miguel Rojas, 34, a veteran acquired in a commerce with Miami throughout the winter to assist Lux modify to shortstop, and Chris Taylor, a utility participant extra accustomed to the outfield.
Enter Betts, who had made occasional appearances at second base going all the method again to his rookie season in Boston. He grew up taking part in shortstop and had dreamed of at some point doing so in the majors.
“I did not assume I used to be really going to finish up taking part in brief, however I all the time informed them, like, ‘Hey, you realize, I’m out there to do it if push ever involves shove,'” Betts mentioned. “And push got here to shove.”
Push coming to shove is a constant, if generally unwelcome, intruder in the sport. The Tigers famously moved heart fielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop for the 1968 World Series, eradicating the light-hitting common Ray Oyler. Stanley had by no means performed the place earlier than but he managed it effectively and Detroit defeated the Cardinals in seven video games.
Decades later, in 2012, Detroit had as soon as once more developed a vexing gap when Victor Martinez suffered a season-ending knee harm. Unlike Lux’s harm, Martinez’s occurred effectively earlier than the season began. So the Tigers signed the free agent slugger Prince Fielder and shoved an agreeable, however not notably swish, Miguel Cabrera from first base to 3rd.
“You got here up as a shortstop, this needs to be simple for you,” Dino Ebel, who was the Angels’ third-base coach that 12 months and now has that function with the Dodgers, teased Cabrera when their groups confronted one another.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, right here I’m, taking part in the left aspect of the diamond once more,’” Ebel mentioned.
Betts was drafted as a shortstop by Boston in 2011, and in contrast to Cabrera he had the physique to remain in the place on a long-term foundation. But with the All-Star Dustin Pedroia established at second base in the majors and Xander Bogaerts already in the Red Sox system, Betts moved to the outfield. Before his latest cameos, he had final performed shortstop professionally in the Arizona Fall League in 2013 and had logged solely 112 skilled innings at the place.
His first look in Chicago had come as a result of Rojas (hamstring) and Taylor (indirect) had been injured. But he has now performed seven video games at the place, together with 5 begins. He dedicated a throwing error Saturday in opposition to San Diego, however he has in any other case been flawless, together with turning a slick double play whereas leaping over a sliding baserunner throughout his debut in Chicago. Advanced statistics recommend his defensive play at shortstop, in an admittedly small pattern, has been near elite, simply as it’s at second base and in proper discipline.
The change in place has coincided with some additional pop at the plate as effectively: Three of his 9 homers have come whereas taking part in shortstop.
Although Betts has gained six Gold Gloves without any consideration fielder, it has by no means been a secret that he will get bored in the outfield. His favourite place, he mentioned, “when you may simply choose, it’d in all probability be brief or second, both one. They’re very interchangeable for me. They get the most motion and I simply really feel like that is the place my athleticism form of performs the most.”
He added: “I simply informed them, ‘I’m a software, use me.’ I’m right here. It’s not like I’m preventing for my subsequent contract. I simply need to win.”
Part of that’s the safety afforded to him by a 12-year, $365 million deal ($30.4 million common annual worth) he signed with the Dodgers forward of the 2020 season. The deal has aged effectively in comparison with a few of the megadeals handed out final low season, even past Betts’ means to shift seamlessly, and with out grievance, to the infield each time the workforce wants him.
Even as soon as the Dodgers’ roster will get wholesome, Betts has finished the work to show that he’s able to taking part in the infield in a significant variety of innings, with Roberts estimating that he may get between 15 to twenty infield begins this season. That quantity may fluctuate based mostly on efficiency and workforce wants.
“When I noticed him in spring coaching taking floor balls, immediately I knew he takes issues severely and he is not there simply to fiddle and have enjoyable,” Rojas mentioned.
Betts, who has taken day by day floor balls at each second base and shortstop throughout batting follow for years, steadily compares notes with Rojas as they work collectively in the early afternoon. Before the collection opener with the Padres on Friday, Rojas complimented Betts on utilizing the proper method on a selected backhand play. Betts returned a praise concerning Rojas’ correct positioning on a ball in entrance of him.
“He’s certainly one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever seen,” Freeman mentioned of Betts. “He needs to do no matter he is requested to do, and he makes it look fairly simple.”
That confidence has permeated the clubhouse, with the final endorsement coming forward of the collection finale in Chicago final month. Roberts was contemplating giving Betts his first begin at shortstop, however with Clayton Kershaw scheduled to pitch, Roberts made certain to verify along with his ace to get his blessing.
“He was like, ‘I’m in,’” Roberts mentioned. “And so at that cut-off date, I feel it freed everyone up that if Clayton trusts him, then let’s simply go and do it.”
Wherever the workforce places him defensively, Betts exudes calm. It is why Roberts was certain the automobile trip from O’Hare Airport to Wrigley Field would have pressured Betts greater than taking part in shortstop in the majors.
“I marvel not solely at the mechanics of it, however the heartbeat of it,” Roberts mentioned. “Because if you have not finished one thing in a significant league sport, you’d assume there can be a bit of bit of additional anxiousness. But with him, there may be none.”