Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Talks Mookie Betts' Future at Shortstop
Mookie Betts got his first career start at shortstop on Sunday and is already the team leader in offense at the position. The Gold Glove outfielder went 2-4 with 4 runs batted in against the Cubs. He hit his first home run in nearly two weeks and added a double in the 9th inning of the 7-3 Dodgers win.
Betts was a happy fella after the game, having a hard time containing the smile on his face in his postgame interview on SportsNet LA.
"That one was a lot of fun," Betts told Kirsten Watson. "The most important thing is we won but I'm here to do whatever it takes to win."
He made each of his four chances -- including the game ending double play -- look routine. In the third, his internal clock at the position was maybe just a fraction off (or dead on, depending on how you look at it) as Seiya Suzuki nearly reached first on a routine groundout to short that Mookie took his time on just a little.
That's just being nitpicky though. He fielded it cleanly, set, and threw on to first.
As it stands, the Dodgers have won every game where Mookie Betts has started at shortstop (one), so the question on everyone's mind is will he be in there more moving forward? Dave Roberts addressed that after the win.
"Yes. Right now there's kind of a runway. Right now I'm going to take the day off and reassess but there's a chance we could see him in there on Tuesday as well."
With Gavin Lux out for the year following knee surgery and Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor struggling to play consistently due to nagging injuries, the door is open for playing time at the position for Mookie.
Mookie was asked if he thinks he'll have to convince Roberts to put him back in there again. He feels his work should speak for itself.
"I don't know. I mean, I think I did pretty good today. I'll keep working hard at it and whenever my time comes, my time comes."
Betts has another guy in his corner in future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw who earlier this week told MLB Network that he believes the new shortstop could get some accolades from his play at the position.
"If he's able to [play shortstop] for us, it's huge. Obviously, he's a Gold Glove right fielder, he probably could be a Gold Glove shortstop too."
Miguel Rojas doesn't return until Friday at the earliest and Chris Taylor will likely be mostly on the bench against right handed pitching for the time being. With the Dodgers facing 3 RHPs in the upcoming Pittsburgh series, we could see lineups very similar to the one we saw on Sunday in Chicago... with Mookie Betts at the top and starting at shortstop.
