Mookie Betts Is a Star Shortstop Now

Although he’s solely 32 years outdated and in his twelfth main league season, Mookie Betts has already finished sufficient to safe a spot within the Corridor of Fame. He’s made eight All-Star groups, gained six Gold Gloves without any consideration fielder, taken house an MVP award whereas ending second 3 times, and helped his groups to a few championships. (He’s the one lively place participant with three rings) He already ranks eighth amongst proper fielders in JAWS, and is fourth in seven-year peak rating, behind solely Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, and Henry Aaron. Like all the good ones, he’s hardly content material to relaxation on his laurels. Not solely is he within the midst of his third straight season making substantial contributions to the Dodgers’ center infield, however he’s emerged as a star-caliber shortstop in a mid-career transfer that lacks a contemporary parallel.

“For me he’s a grade and a half higher at that place than he was final 12 months,” mentioned Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts over Memorial Day Weekend, in the course of the crew’s journey to Citi Subject. “He seems to be like a serious league shortstop now, the place final 12 months there have been instances I didn’t really feel that means. However I feel he’s a man that loves a problem and he’s actually realized that problem and retains getting higher every night time.”

Requested to elaborate on what has modified for Betts, Roberts mentioned, “Repetitions, confidence, he’s had numerous completely different performs that he’s been in a position to see in video games — however I feel [the biggest difference] is confidence. He’s only a higher defender proper now.”

For Roberts, Betts’ first step is the place he actually shines. “I feel his means to get off on the ball is pretty much as good as anyone in baseball,” the supervisor mentioned late final month.

Betts isn’t a whole newcomer to shortstop. He starred on the place at Overton Excessive Faculty in Nashville and was drafted as a shortstop by the Pink Sox in 2011. Professionally, nonetheless, his résumé on the place was a skinny one till not too long ago. He performed six innings at brief throughout his skilled debut within the Gulf Coast League in 2011, one other 13 video games there (in addition to 58 at second base) at Low-A Lowell the following season, and made a two-inning cameo within the Arizona Fall League in 2013. However he wasn’t lengthy for the center infield. He performed 46 video games on the keystone within the minors in 2014, then 14 for the Pink Sox that 12 months after Dustin Pedroia suffered a season-ending damage. Whereas starring for Boston and Los Angeles in proper subject, Betts added simply 15 extra appearances at second base from 2015 to ’22, a few of them just for just a few innings.

Quick-forward to February 2023. After Trea Turner departed the Dodgers through free company, the crew deliberate for Gavin Lux to take over the place, however Lux tore his proper ACL throughout a February 28 spring coaching contest. Betts immediately reentered the middle-infield image. He dabbled at second base whereas prospect Miguel Vargas tried to get a foothold, and by the top of April had not solely made six begins there, but in addition 4 at shortstop when a hamstring pressure sidelined Miguel Rojas, Lux’s alternative. By the All-Star break, Betts had began 54 video games in proper subject, 19 at second, and 12 at brief, offering spectacular protection contemplating how lengthy it had been since he’d performed on the dust. Vargas’ offensive struggles led the Dodgers to demote him to Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis after the primary half of the season. Roberts briefly tried deadline acquisition Amed Rosario at each center infield spots, however settled on usually utilizing Betts as a part of a multi-position platoon. In opposition to lefties, Betts began in proper subject with Rosario at second, whereas in opposition to righties Betts began at second with the resurgent Jason Heyward in proper; Rojas dealt with brief in opposition to each. Betts completed with 77 begins in proper and 62 at second, plus the 12 at brief, a versatility that enhanced his MVP case, although he misplaced to Ronald Acuña Jr. within the 12 months of his unprecedented mixture of 41 homers and 73 steals.

In the course of the 2023 Winter Conferences, Roberts revealed the Dodgers deliberate to maintain Betts as their on a regular basis second baseman in ’24, with Lux at shortstop and Rojas as a backup, however when Lux struggled along with his throws early in spring coaching, the 2 switched positions. Betts regarded like a pure at instances, exhibiting off good vary, however he was clearly stretched, significantly when it got here to his throws. After he landed on the injured checklist in mid-June as a result of a fractured left hand, the Dodgers went ahead with Rojas and deadline acquisition Tommy Edman at shortstop, returning Betts to proper subject as soon as his hand healed.

The Dodgers did nothing lower than win their second World Collection with Betts as their proper fielder, however Betts couldn’t let the state of affairs relaxation. Even when he’d agreed to maneuver again to proper subject final summer time, he informed Chris Woodward (at that time a particular assistant and roving infield teacher, now a coach) close to his try and play shortstop. “For now it’s over, however we’re going to win the World Collection, after which I’m coming again.”

Betts spent the winter working to enhance at shortstop, a luxurious he didn’t have in the course of the winter of 2023–24. From ESPN’s Alden González:

From November to February, Betts visited highschool and collegiate infields all through the L.A. space on an virtually each day foundation in an effort to solidify the main points of a transition he didn’t have time to actually put together for final season.

Pedro Montero, one of many Dodgers’ video coordinators, positioned an iPad onto a tripod and aimed its digicam in Betts’ path whereas he repeatedly pelted baseballs into the bottom with a fungo bat, then despatched Woodward the clips to evaluate from his house in Arizona. The three spoke virtually each day.

Betts moreover communicated with and labored out with Rojas, who instilled the necessity to use completely different arm slots — plural — from what Betts was used to in proper subject. “He’s understanding now that you just want a slot to throw the ball to first base, you want a slot to throw the ball to second base, you want a slot to throw the ball house and from the facet,” Rojas informed The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya in March.

Betts’ season started inauspiciously. Shortly earlier than the Dodgers departed for his or her season-opening Tokyo Collection in Japan, he contracted a thriller sickness that not solely sidelined him for these two video games in opposition to the Cubs, however prevented him from consuming full meals and prompted him to lose 23 kilos, no small matter for a 175-pound athlete. His offense has suffered, with a drop in wRC+ from 141 final 12 months to 110 this 12 months, however he’s proven notable enchancment within the subject.

Betts has began 68 of the Dodgers’ 76 video games at shortstop, taking part in 583 innings there (52 2/3 greater than final 12 months) with out logging a single inning at one other place. Whereas that also constitutes a modest pattern, a number of metrics paint a compelling image that illustrates his enchancment. First, some old-school statistics:

As soon as upon a time, all we needed to go on for defensive numbers had been putouts, assists, errors, and fielding share. These figures are a lot much less helpful now, however it’s value noting the excellence between errors made whereas fielding the ball (E_field) and people made whereas throwing (E_throw). Betts has been persistently sure-handed, however after making eight throwing errors final 12 months, he’s lower that down to 2 so far, in barely extra taking part in time. Then again, he’s making fewer performs (putouts plus assists) per sport, each relative to his personal work final 12 months (RF/9, for vary issue per 9 innings) and to the league (lgRF/9). He’s swung from besting the league common by 0.18 performs per 9 to falling brief by 0.1 performs per 9.

What’s lacking from that comparability is alternative. In response to Baseball Reference, the share of right-handed batters the Dodgers have confronted with Betts at shortstop — which is to say batters extra inclined to tug the ball to the left facet of the infield — has dropped from 59% in 2024 to 54% this 12 months, whereas the league common has dropped from 59% to 56%. In the meantime, the share of batters producing groundballs in opposition to Dodgers pitchers with Betts at shortstop has dropped from 29% to 27%, whereas the league common has remained at 29% in each years. Even with no system to make an actual adjustment for Betts’ comparatively restricted alternatives, the distinction in all probability comes out within the wash.

Tuning to superior stats, whereas the Defensive Runs Saved values we publish at FanGraphs match these at Baseball Reference and Fielding Bible, these websites provide extra detailed breakdowns which are helpful when peeking underneath the hood. For one factor, Fielding Bible provides directional breakdowns à la Statcast’s Outs Above Common system (which I’ll get to subsequent). For one more, the system individually accounts for a defender’s runs worth in three classes: Air (fairly negligible for infielders, with all however just a few inside one run of common), Vary, and Throwing, as a part of what Sports activities Data Options calls the PART system with Positioning (the P in PART) credited to the crew and never the person participant. Notice that the run values are offered as entire numbers, simply as in Statcast, whereas the decimals are hidden, which explains why the displayed figures don’t seem so as to add up:

GFP stands for Good Fielding Performs, which Fielding Bible describes as performs “when a fielder does one thing to file an out or forestall a base development that we wouldn’t sometimes count on from a fielder on the place.” (There are apparently about 30 varieties.) Betts has already surpassed final 12 months’s complete of these whereas chopping down on Defensive Misplays (DM), any play of roughly 60 varieties “the place the fielder screws up however isn’t really charged with an error,” leading to both a batter reaching base or advancing an additional base, akin to a bobbled ball on a double play alternative or a ball hit proper previous an infielder. In response to Sports activities Data Options’ Mark Simon, on grounders Betts has diminished his mixed complete of DM and errors from six final 12 months to 2 this 12 months, whereas on throws he’s lower his DM plus errors from 9 to a few.

Going by the DRS directional parts — which account for each vary and throwing — Betts has improved vastly on performs made to his proper (towards third base) and straight forward relative to final 12 months, however hasn’t been pretty much as good on performs to his left (towards first base). On throwing alone, he’s improved by eight runs from 12 months to 12 months, which jibes along with his diminished variety of throwing errors. Including up all of the air, vary, and throwing classes, Betts has improved from 3 DRS (tied for 18th within the majors, trailing many gamers with tons of extra innings) to 7 DRS (tied with Nick Allen and Zach Neto for third within the majors, behind solely Taylor Partitions and Jeremy Peña).

Lastly, Statcast gives one other wealthy trove of information.

The OAA (Outs Above Common) figures are damaged into directional parts: in, again, lateral towards third base and lateral towards first base. In response to Statcast, Betts’ power final 12 months was his means to make performs within the shortstop-third base gap. He’s surpassed final 12 months’s OAA in that path whereas additionally posting internet enhancements of three outs on performs to his left, and 6 outs on balls in entrance of him. These directional measures conflict with the DRS ones, however it’s honest to surprise if the discrepancies owe something to what’s captured by that system’s Positioning part. Primarily based upon Statcast’s estimates, Betts is changing about 2% extra performs into outs than the common main league shortstop, in comparison with 2% fewer than common final 12 months.

Statcast doesn’t escape run values for infielder throwing because it does for outfielders, however it does measure arm power within the type of common velocity on the highest 5% of a participant’s throws. By that measure, Betts’ common top-5% throw has improved from 78.3 mph to 81.8 mph. That further mustard nonetheless locations him simply twenty fourth out of 36 qualifying shortstops, 3.7 mph beneath the most important league common (Gabriel Arias and Elly De La Cruz rank first and second, with 91.9 mph and 91.7 mph, respectively). Trying again, Betts was 59th out of 60 final 12 months, 8.6 mph beneath common. Progress!

Boiling it down, throughout related pattern sizes Betts has improved by 4 runs based on DRS and by seven runs based on FRV. Not solely is he tied for third within the majors within the former, he’s tied for fourth within the latter, which might be spectacular even when he had been a seasoned veteran. Right here’s how he stacks up alongside the lively Gold Glove winners nonetheless taking part in shortstop:

This isn’t to counsel Betts is worthy of a Gold Glove, however he’s not misplaced with these admittedly noisy partial-season metrics — and that’s because the oldest member of the group! Which brings us again to the individuality of this feat. In April, Zach Crizer looked for precedents to what Betts is trying:

Solely 11 gamers on file have turn out to be main shortstops for the primary time of their fifth major-league season or after. And Betts is barely the second to make that soar from the outfield. The primary was Howie Shanks of the 1917 Washington Senators (aka Grifs). Shanks was much less productive in his 14-season profession than Betts was in 2023.

A better parallel, by way of prominence, is likely to be Gil McDougald. A sterling infielder on the star-studded Nineteen Fifties New York Yankees, he gained AL Rookie of the 12 months, made an All-Star crew and twice obtained MVP votes taking part in a mixture of second and third base earlier than he was requested to strive shortstop to succeed Phil Rizzuto.

… He spent two seasons as the first shortstop, incomes top-10 MVP finishes each years, earlier than pivoting again to second base. Extra not too long ago, the Baltimore Orioles and Dodgers gave superlative third base defender Manny Machado a season of run at shortstop as he approached free company. It turned out to be a one-year experiment.

Machado, one other participant more likely to wind up in Cooperstown, performed shortstop virtually solely within the Orioles’ chain, however upon reaching Baltimore, he was bumped to 3rd base by three-time Gold Glove winner J.J. Hardy. He gained Gold Gloves on the scorching nook in 2013 and ’15, and performed brief when Hardy was injured in ’15 and ’16. Over a mixed 433 innings at shortstop in these two seasons, he netted 3 DRS, and had 2 FRV in 380 innings in 2016, the primary season for which that metric is on the market. The Orioles gave him an extended run at brief in 2018 following Hardy’s retirement; in a complete of 147 video games and 1,261 innings with Orioles and Dodgers (after a deadline blockbuster), he managed 2 FRV however -10 DRS. Filling in for the injured rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. in 2019, each gamers’ first season with the Padres, Machado once more scuffled (-1 FRV and -4 DRS in 299 innings). He hasn’t performed shortstop since.

ESPN’s González supplied one other parallel within the outfield-to-shortstop sweepstakes:

Solely 21 gamers since 1900 have registered 100 profession video games in proper subject and 100 profession video games at shortstop, based on ESPN Analysis. It’s an inventory compiled principally of lifelong utility males. The one one amongst them who got here near following Betts’ path may need been Tony Womack, an every-day proper fielder in his age-29 season and an every-day shortstop within the three years that adopted. However Womack had logged loads of skilled shortstop expertise earlier than then.

The sunshine-hitting Womack, who debuted in 1993, performed shortstop for the Diamondbacks from 2000–02, the final three years earlier than DRS turned out there. By the much less refined Whole Zone, he netted out as common throughout 410 video games at shortstop, however so weak was his bat (71 wRC+) that he totaled simply 2.1 bWAR and 1.7 fWAR for these three seasons, with highs of 1.4 bWAR and 1.0 fWAR for the 2001 World Collection winners.

Even when we solely think about gamers who logged 100 video games at each shortstop and within the outfield of their careers, no matter sequence, Betts is in rarefied air:

Wagner and Davis debuted within the nineteenth Century and starred at shortstop however moved across the diamond a good bit. Wagner, one of many authentic 5 Corridor of Fame inductees, performed extra outfield and third base than shortstop early in his profession; he didn’t play greater than 61 video games at brief in a season till 1903, his age-29 marketing campaign. Davis broke in as an outfielder with the Cleveland Spiders (!) at age 19 in 1890 and performed principally third base from 1892-96 earlier than changing into an everyday shortstop for the Giants in ’97, starting an 11-year run on the place. Yount moved from shortstop to heart subject (with a quick detour to left) in his age-29 season and at age 33 turned simply the third participant to win an MVP award at a number of positions, after Hank Greenberg and Musial, each of whom did in order outfielders and first basemen. Ward was a nineteenth Century pitcher who performed the outfield when he wasn’t on the mound, then after an arm damage moved to shortstop in 1885, at age 25. Irvin was a Negro Leagues star who solely performed a plurality of video games at shortstop in 1941 (at age 22), ’46, and ’47 earlier than changing into an early integration pioneer with the Giants. Phillips was the proto-Zobrist, in a position to deal with any certainly one of a number of positions on a given day or season. Marte primarily performed shortstop in his first three seasons within the majors (2015–17) with the Mariners and Diamondbacks. He’s since made two All-Star groups, one as a middle fielder (2019, age 25) and one as a second baseman (2024, age 30).

These are some nice gamers, however at greatest they’re distant parallels or imperfect analogues to Betts. By his personal account and people of Roberts, Woodward and others, he’s removed from a completed product, however he’s doing one thing we’ve by no means fairly seen, and it’s a sight to behold.