Mookie Betts is not only returning to the Dodgers' active roster Monday but to right field. Here's why L.A. made the change now.
As it turns out, the Dodgers' most rational defensive configuration is with their six-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder playing in the outfield. Early last week, Betts was still taking grounders in preparation for his impending return from the injured list. As recently as last Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts said that the Dodgers planned to keep Mookie Betts at shortstop. Three days later, however, those plans changed. The shortstop experiment, for the foreseeable future, is over.
But, again, Betts handled the change well. Despite varied defensive metrics on his work at shortstop, he ranked fifth in FanGraphs wins above replacement among all major-leaguers, trailing only Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson and Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. among shortstops, when he fractured his hand on June 16. Betts had put in the work to get to that point.
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