Mookie Betts To Play Shortstop In 2025

Final month, the Dodgers open Shortly after their World Sequence win, they deliberate to carry again the versatile star Mookie Betts to the outfield, the place he spent the primary half of the 2024 season earlier than returning to proper subject all through the 2025 season. Now, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomez She added extra privateness to that plan by informing reporters (together with… Athlete Fabian Ardaya) introduced Monday that Betts will enter the 2025 season because the membership's beginning shortstop.

As Ardaya identified, a return to the turf late within the 2024 season was preceded by a months-long absence as a consequence of a damaged hand he suffered when he was hit by a pitch in June. On the time, the membership determined to place Betts again on the sector in the interim, thanks partly to the emergence Miguel Rojas and Tommy Edman As viable choices on the place but in addition as a result of Betts had considerably all of the sudden moved to shortstop proper earlier than the season began as a result of Gavin Lux He struggled within the place throughout spring coaching. Ardaya notes that Betts has struggled at instances with the transition from making throws as an outfielder to throwing as a shortstop, however Betts and the membership really feel extra assured that he’ll be capable of deal with the place on a day-to-day foundation in 2025 now that he has a full offseason to arrange. for this step.

Given the obvious lack of curiosity on the a part of Los Angeles in tapping into the shortstop market this winter, it's maybe not notably stunning that they plan handy the keys of the place over to Betts subsequent yr. It was the Dodgers Loosely connected To high free agent shortstop Willie Adams earlier this season however didn’t look like among the many most aggressive suitors earlier than ultimately touchdown with their rivals in San Francisco over the weekend. Cubs second baseman Nico Horner He’s the industrial candidate who has Got some buzz This winter it was the Dodgers Previously connected to it Over the summer time, he has loads of short-handed expertise himself, however there was a sign that this curiosity had carried over into the winter.

With Betts now getting an official ticket to the regulars at shortstop, it seems the membership's lineup is beginning to fall into place. Gavin Lux and Miguel Rojas cut up time at second base, with Ardaya suggesting {that a} robust second half from Lux ought to give him the lion's share of enjoying time at cornerback subsequent yr. He would depart Max Muncy To proceed enjoying third base regularly whereas Tommy Edman serves because the membership's common heart fielder. Freddie Freeman and Shuhei Otani They’re in fact locked in at first base and DH respectively, and a newly signed outfielder Michael Conforto Figures to be an on a regular basis participant in Los Angeles in a single nook of the sector.

This leaves a transparent emptiness within the membership's lineup at exterior nook which isn’t occupied by Conforto. Given the closely reported mutual curiosity in a reunion, it seems the Dodgers are hoping to fill that void with Teoscar Hernandez. With that being stated, either side are stated Facing a gap in contract talksAnd with A number to Reports Which suggests Hernandez might have a robust market as the best choice out there on the sector Juan Soto Now off the market, there appears to be no assure he’ll find yourself in Dodger blue subsequent yr. There are lots of different attention-grabbing choices out there within the free agent market resembling Anthony Santander and Gorekson provar Ought to the Dodgers go up Hernandez, nevertheless it's additionally no less than believable that the membership might determine to go along with a younger in-house platoon Andy Pages and James Oatman To fill that final spot within the lineup.