The question was inevitable, even if Dave Roberts found the story too convenient.
After a blistering start to the season offensively, Dodgers star Mookie Betts has cooled off in recent weeks. Entering Thursday, Betts was in a one-of-25 slump. He’s batting .236 with a mediocre .685 OPS in his last 32 games since April 29. His underrated power was also gone, having hit just four home runs in his previous 54 games.
So, Roberts was asked Thursday afternoon, did Betts’ workload as everyday shortstop — the position he moved to for the first time in his MLB career this spring — affect his production at the plate?
No, the manager claimed firmly.
“I think the lazy, easy answer is [that his recent struggles are] because of his workload at shortstop,” Roberts insisted. “I think this is one of those situations where the world would wait until Mookie stopped staying warm and say that’s the reason.”
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A few hours later, Betts silenced that story – at least for one night.
In an 11-7 victory that kept the Dodgers from being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Betts led the way offensively, recording two hits, reaching base four times and, most importantly, hitting a three-run home run in a six-run. fifth inning and helped the Dodgers pull away in what was a back-and-forth battle early on.
“Anything can happen in one game, so we have to put a few down [more] playing together,” Betts said.
As for the idea that his shortstop play was the cause of his recent slump?
“This is the best I’ve felt since I was probably 21 or 22 years old,” he said. “So that plays absolutely no role. It’s just purely me.”
Thursday was the kind of highlight Betts often delivered in the opening weeks of the season, when he hit .368 in March and April while playing full-time at shortstop for the first time as a professional.
At the time, Betts’ excellence was awe-inspiring. It was a testament to his defensive versatility, having spent most of his MLB career as a Gold Glove right fielder, as well as his ability to handle the increased workload that came with relearning such a crucial position.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Roberts said recently about Betts’ move to shortstop. “I don’t think this has ever been done at this level, for this level of player.”
But as Betts’ numbers declined, speculation began to increase. That the demands of playing shortstop reduced his offensive productivity. That countless hours of pre-match defensive drills took its toll on his body. That his position change had the kind of unintended side effects that some fans (and Dodgers officials) feared when he first made the move.
Even a former MVP, the thinking went, could only do much for so long.
However, when asked about that theory on Thursday, Roberts scoffed.
That “story,” Roberts said, ignored the fact that Betts was long prone to cold stretches as a hitter. It ignored a simpler explanation that his swing was only slightly off, which led to him “missing some pitches” that he would normally punish.
“I just want time to pass,” Roberts said, before blaming Betts’ shortstop workload. “I trust his work. I know he’s going to hit. He’s gotten a lot better at shortstop. And we still have a first-place ball club. He’s still a pretty good player.”
So far in support of Betts on Thursday.
Betts led off the game with a single, leading to a four-run first inning, highlighted by Freddie Freeman’s three-run blast, his eighth home run of the year.
The Pirates (29-33) eventually came back to tag Dodgers starter Walker Buehler with four runs (three earned) in a start marred by poor defense — the Dodgers committed three errors and several other playable mistakes Thursday, in what Roberts said “by far” their worst defensive performance of the year – and a two-run tie-breaker from Nick Gonzales in the bottom of the third.
But then Betts helped the Dodgers (39-25) get back in front for good.
In a six-run fifth inning that also included a solo home run by Teoscar Hernández (his 13th of the season, fifth highest in the National League), an RBI double by Kiké Hernández and a runscoring error on a stolen base attempt, Betts made before the exclamation point.
On a 1-on-1 count against Pirates reliever Ben Heller, Betts drilled a sinker over the heart of the zone. The three-run blast traveled over 450 feet and immediately hit the wall in the middle. And as Betts rounded the bases and coolly celebrated his 10th homer of the season with a run in front of the team dugout and bullpen, the futility of his recent struggles quickly faded from his memory.
“Mookie came to life,” Roberts said. “For him to catch a ton and go deep to center field was a really good sign.”
Of course, as Betts himself noted, it will take more than one big play to completely nullify the shortstop story.
The 31-year-old still takes as many daily pregame grounders as any infielder on the team. He’s still learning the ropes of being an everyday shortstop (something that became apparent Thursday after a throwing error in the second inning and a few other misplayed grounders). He’s still trying to prove that he can not only make shortstops on a daily basis, but also sustain elite-level production with the bat in the process.
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“I was talking to [teammate Gavin] Lux during the match,” Betts said, “and I thought, ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.’
But according to the Dodgers, it’s not beyond his capabilities either. For now, his role as everyday shortstop remains unchanged.
“I have to clean up a lot of things,” said Betts, who lamented his defensive lapses but not his long-term view of the position. “Back to the drawing board. Back to work. But you know: a win is a win.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
