At the time of his injury on June 17th, few players were off to a better start than Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts. However, with his return to the LA lineup imminent, Betts will be returning to action in a new role with the west coast club.
Betts, who was hitting .304 with 50 runs scored, 40 RBIs, 9 SB, and 10 HRs across 72 games in the lead off spot, will drop down to second in the batting order behind Shohei Ohtani. This will give the Dodgers a 3 headed monster of Ohtani, Betts, and Freddie Freeman for opposing pitchers to navigate atop the lineup.
Additionally, the 31 year old will shift from shortstop to right field when he rejoins his teammates in Milwaukee.
“He is most confident right now in right field versus at shortstop,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters. This, coming only a few days removed from confirming that the former league MVP would remain at SS came as a surprise to some.
Instead, current RF Jason Heyward will move to a part time role in the outfield, while Miguel Rojas and Nick Ahmed will continue to split reps at short.
“I know that I said we want to start with Mookie out there at short, to then give the potential to pivot out there,” Roberts said. “I had a good conversation with him last night. And, I think right now, and again, things always seem to change, but right now, we’re gonna kick Mookie out to right field.”
“It’s something that … we all feel that’s what’s best for our ballclub now, going forward. And could it change? Potentially. But I think that we all feel comfortable that Mookie needs to get acclimated back out there to right field and giving [Rojas] the opportunity to play short, within reason, as far as giving him certain off-days to keep them fresh. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
Los Angeles currently sits atop the NL West division with a 68-49 record, but have scuffled of late, posting a 5-5 mark over their last 10 games played. Having the 8x All-Star rejoin the team on Monday is the equivalent of swinging a massive trade deadline deal for the homestretch of the season.
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