Position changes – for Mookie Betts or Teoscar Hernández – aren't coming any time soon for Dodgers
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Betts' transition to shortstop has been an unquestioned individual defensive success, as the 32-year-old has more than handled his own at the game's premier position. The defense in Betts' old position — the one he stood at when the Dodgers recorded the final out of their World Series run last October — has fallen off.
Teoscar Hernández's inability to record an out on a ball that (according to Statcast) had a 90 percent catch probability had sunk the Dodgers in a walk-off loss to a putrid Colorado Rockies team, once again drawing the attention on his right field play that has been amongst the worst in baseball.
The topic of Monday night's conversation, according to all parties involved, never touched upon right field. Rather, it was one of several check-ins that Betts has had with Roberts — some of which have been visible to media — as he's dealt with his struggles over the course of the worst offensive season of his career.
'Mookie pops into my office all the time,' Roberts said. 'I hope too much wasn't made of that.'
Betts is not the only one; Freddie Freeman was spotted in Roberts' office prior to Tuesday night's contest for a brief conversation.
Betts and Friedman each independently told The Athletic before Roberts' comments that the three were discussing the progress of Betts' swing as he's gone 16-for-48 (.333) over his last 12 games — and not about a possible switch at right field.
Sure enough, Betts did not replace Hernández in right field on Tuesday night, as both former All-Stars assumed the same positions they started the season in.
Tonight's #Dodgers lineup at Rockies: pic.twitter.com/KOeJmJSKgT
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2025
Still, the tumultuous 24 hours at least temporarily brought back calls for Betts to return to the outfield, as he did last August for the team's stretch run after starting that season as the team's shortstop. Roberts said right field has not come up 'at all' in conversations with Betts this season.
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'I think that's a fair question,' Roberts said. 'But I don't think we're there yet.'
Roberts pointed to the lack of options in the Dodgers' infield, which is currently without Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, Kiké Hernández and Max Muncy. The Dodgers are reluctant to put Miguel Rojas into an everyday role at age 36, especially when he was far from 100 percent last postseason. They've already forced prospect Alex Freeland into what is essentially an everyday role to make up for their absences, and would exacerbate that by moving Betts to the outfield.
The absences of Edman, Hernández and Kim also remove certain options from the outfield mix that could reduce Teoscar Hernández's exposure to right field without moving Betts off of shortstop.
Roberts said Edman will not return until his sprained right ankle can physically handle center field, which would move Andy Pages to right field and, in theory, put Hernández in left field for certain matchups. That would, in theory, also boost the lineup offensively, with Michael Conforto still providing nothing at the plate and Alex Call going 4-for-23 to start his Dodgers career after being acquired at the deadline.
There's also the fact that Betts might not even be the best defensive right fielder on the roster right now. Pages' arm ideally puts him in right. Betts' defensive metrics (as much as public metrics can be trusted) had not been as strong as his peak years in Boston even before he moved off the position, and he was essentially average at the position in the final month and a half of 2024 by Outs Above Average.
That's still better than Hernández's -9 Outs Above Average so far this season, but worse than Betts' 2 Outs Above Average at a more important defensive position so far in 2025.
Roberts still acknowledged that this all becomes more of a conversation if the Dodgers can get closer to full strength, anyway, before retracting some of his pointed criticism of Hernández from Monday night and doubling down on his belief that Hernández can improve his range.
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'I think, just in totality, we can all do a better job,' Roberts said. 'All of us. So I just refuse to pin it on one position, one person. … That's just not what I do. But I do believe … if there's ways to get better on the margins I think that way to look at it is completely fair and completely honest.
'I do know that Teo feels more comfortable in right. I know the numbers don't speak to it this year. I'm counting on him to improve play out there. I really am. I'll leave it at that.'
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