The Los Angeles Dodgers are making a defensive switch as the start of their much-anticipated 2024 season approaches.
Veteran superstar Mookie Betts, who was expected to play second base full-time for the first time in the 31-year-old’s career, will move to shortstop. Gavin Lux, who entered spring training as the de facto starting shortstop but has struggled defensively there thus far in the preseason, is moving to second base, where he was the primary starter in 2022.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced the move Friday after the team’s lineup was released for Los Angeles’s spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds. Roberts told reporters the switch was “permanent, for now.”
Lux had long been viewed as the team’s long-term shortstop after the back-to-back departures of stars Corey Seager and Trea Turner in free agency, but those plans were delayed when Lux tore his ACL in spring training last year and missed the entire 2023 season. Thus far this spring, Lux has missed throws on several seemingly routine or only slightly difficult ground balls hit to shortstop. He committed two errors and was beaten out by two infield singles during a game Wednesday started by prized free agent addition Yoshinobu Yamamoto, helping lead to Yamamoto giving up five runs.
Betts, meanwhile, has only played 14 games at shortstop — all of which came last year after he lobbied Roberts for a chance to do so as a swath of injuries, including Lux’s, gutted the Dodgers’ middle infield depth.
Betts came up through the minor leagues with the Boston Red Sox as a second baseman but moved to the outfield because he was blocked at the position by then-Red Sox star Dustin Pedroia. Betts has spent most of his own superstar career as a right fielder with time also spent at center field and back at second base, where he was expected to move full-time this season.
The Dodgers have several other shortstop options, including veterans Miguel Rojas, Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor. But Rojas is considered one of the team’s worst hitters, and both Hernandez and Taylor have injury and defense issues of their own at shortstop and were expected to contribute more to the team’s outfield depth this season. According to The Athletic, the Dodgers also have trade interest in the Milwaukee Brewers’ Willy Adames, who is considered an elite defender at shortstop and is a free agent after 2024.
The Dodgers open their season March 20 against the San Diego Padres in Korea. It will likely mark the team debuts of Yamamoto, fellow starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and the biggest offseason addition the Dodgers or any other team made this past offseason — two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.
[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]
Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more