Dodgers make big decision on Mookie Betts for 2025
After tinkering with Mookie Betts’ position over the last few years, the Los Angeles Dodgers are making a firm decision for the 2025 season.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes revealed that the team plans to have their star slugger Betts play in the infield during the 2025 campaign, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. That means that the Dodgers will now have an opening at Betts’ usual right field position heading into the winter.
The eight-time All-Star Betts is also a six-time Gold Glover in right field and played at the position throughout the Dodgers’ recently-concluded World Series run. But he has also logged time in the middle infield for the team, getting 61 regular season starts at shortstop and 12 at second base in 2024.
Betts becoming a full-time infielder for the 2025 season means that the Dodgers will not have to rely on the likes of Miguel Rojas and Gavin Lux as much. More important though is the opening it creates in right field, which we already know that the Dodgers have some major offseason dreams for.
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Dodgers not counting on Ohtani to pitch at the start of next season following left shoulder surgery
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – The Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t counting on Shohei Ohtani to pitch at the start of next season and will wait to see how his rehabilitation progresses following shoulder surgery on his non-throwing arm.
Ohtani had a procedure Tuesday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury sustained while sliding during a stolen base attempt in Game 2 of the World Series on Oct. 26. The two-way star did not pitch this year while recovering from elbow surgery on Sept. 19, 2023.
“We´re going to take it piece by piece and get through this and then take it in one-, two-week chunks and make sure that we´re in a really good place on each of those benchmarks and then go from there and not try to say, `Hey, we need to be ready by this day,'” general manager Brandon Gomes said Wednesday. “We´re going to let the rehab process play out.”
Ohtani and the Dodgers begin next season in Tokyo, with a two-game series against the Chicago Cubs on March 18 and 19.
After signing a record $700 million, 10-year contract, the 30-year-old Ohtani hit .310 with 54 homers, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases this year, becoming the first player with at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season.
“I think it’s safe that he will not steal 50 bases next year,” Gomes said. “I have a hunch. I don´t want to count it out because I don´t ever bet against Shohei.”
