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The Dodgers could have a brand new proper fielder once they play the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, one with six Gold Glove awards on the place on his resume.
To say Mookie Betts is an ideal match for the Dodgers’ inconsistent outfield is an understatement.
Nonetheless, it took a couple of conversations between Betts and supervisor Dave Roberts to get on the identical web page. Roberts introduced Friday that Betts agreed to his third place change this 12 months.
Betts started spring coaching because the Dodgers’ second baseman, then shortly shifted to shortstop when Gavin Lux struggled on the place early in Cactus League play. The most recent change, he stated, was a “largely mutual” determination.
“I simply need to win,” Betts stated.
Roberts made it clear that the (largely) mutual understanding was achieved over a sequence of conversations between him and Betts.
“To be fairly trustworthy we speak each day about it,” Roberts stated. “It wasn’t about ‘hey one thing occurred’ and ‘hey that is what we have to do now.’ … It’s basically studying the room, me and him speaking. That’s a part of my job, is to get a really feel for the place he’s at and the place the ball membership’s at.
“That is one thing we each really feel, the group feels as effectively, that is the most effective factor for the Dodgers in 2024.”
Betts made 72 begins this 12 months earlier than a 98-mph fastball struck his left hand in June, inflicting a fracture. He had began each sport both at shortstop or second base.
For all his want to stay on the infield, and all of the enhancements he’d made at shortstop since March, in the long run Betts was a sufferer of his personal previous success in proper area.
A transfer again to second base was successfully not an possibility due to Lux’s shortcomings on protection. Because the All-Star break, Lux has been, by one metric, the second-best hitter within the Nationwide League however is proscribed to taking part in second base.
The Dodgers will set up Tommy Edman in middle area as soon as he’s activated from the injured listing; Edman is about to start a minor league rehab task Saturday with Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis.
The group’s different outfield choices have been inconsistent with the bat, the glove, or each. Andy Pages had essentially the most success on the plate, however he’s slashing .244/.301/.378 — a pedestrian 92 OPS+ — and struggling at occasions to deal with middle area.
Kevin Kiermaier, a four-time Gold Glove winner in middle area, has a 51 OPS+. Jason Heyward, Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor are all higher with the glove than the bat.
Apart from left fielder Teoscar Hernandez, the Dodgers merely haven’t gotten the two-way manufacturing they hoped for from their outfield in 2024. Beginning subsequent week, that figures to vary.
Picture Credit score: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports activities
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