Mookie is betting on being a shortstop in 2025

Last month, the Dodgers revealed shortly after their World Series win that they planned to return a versatile star Mookie Betts to the infield, where he spent the first half of the 2024 season before returning to right field down the stretch, for the 2025 season. Now, the Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes added a little more specificity to that plan by informing reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) on Monday that Betts will enter the 2025 season as the club’s starting shortstop.

As Ardaya noted, that return to grass late in the 2024 season was preceded by a months-long absence due to a broken hand suffered when he was hit by a pitch in June. At that time, the club decided to move Betts back to the outfield for the time being thanks in part to the emergence of Miguel Rojas AND Tommy Edman as viable options at the position, but also because Betts was suddenly moved to shortstop shortly before the start of the season due to Gavin Lux struggling at the position during spring training. Ardaya notes that Betts has struggled at times with the transition from outfield to shortstop pitches, but that Betts and the club feel more confident that he will be able to handle the position on a daily basis in 2025 now that he has a full offseason to prepare for the move.

Given L.A.’s apparent lack of interest in engaging in the shortstop market this winter, perhaps it’s not particularly surprising that they plan to hand the keys to the position back to Betts next year. The Dodgers were loosely linked to the top free agent shortstop Willy Adames earlier this offseason, but he didn’t appear to be among her most aggressive suitors before landing with division rivals in San Francisco over the weekend. Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner is a trade candidate who has generated some buzz this winter and who the Dodgers were previously linked to over the summer, who has plenty of experience at shortstop himself, but there have been indications of that interest having also continued during the winter.

With Betts now officially ticketed for regular reps at shortstop, the club’s lineup appears to have begun to take shape. Gavin Lux and Miguel Rojas figure to share time at second base, with Ardaya suggesting that a strong second half from Lux should earn him the lion’s share of playing time at the keystone next year. That would go away Max Muncy continue to play third base regularly while Tommy Edman figures to act as the club’s regular center fielder. Freddie Freemann AND Shohei Ohtani they’re obviously stuck at first base and DH and as the newly signed outfielder, respectively Michele Conforto looks to be an everyday player for LA at one of the outside corners.

This obviously leaves a vacancy in the club’s lineup at outside corner not filled by Conforto. Given the widely reported mutual interest in a reunion, it appears the Dodgers are hoping to fill that void Teoscar Hernandez. That said, the parties are reportedly addressing a gap in contract negotiations and with a number of reports suggesting that Hernandez could have a robust market as perhaps the best outfield option available with Juan Soto now off the market there appears to be no guarantee it will end up in Dodger Blue next year. There are many other interesting options available on the free agent market such as Antonio Santander AND Jurickson Profar if the Dodgers were to lose Hernandez, but it is also at least plausible that the club decides to focus on a platoon of young infielders Andy Pages AND James Outmann to fill the last spot in the lineup.