PHOENIX – The Los Angeles Dodgers’ billion-dollar offseason will be the tale of their winter, but their most consequential move of the spring could very well be turning their Gold Glove right fielder into their new everyday shortstop.
For as much as this club’s winter plans lined up, there was very little, at least publicly, to suggest the Dodgers had any idea they would be writing out a lineup card that featured Mookie Betts at shortstop with 12 days to go before opening their season in Seoul, South Korea. Especially after, just weeks ago, general manager Brandon Gomes declared Gavin Lux would “absolutely” be the club’s everyday shortstop.
But for the second spring in a row, Lux’s presumed ascension to the shortstop role didn’t make it out of spring training. The 26-year-old former top prospect, who is coming off a torn ACL suffered last spring, experienced a recurrence of throwing issues that caused the club’s best-laid plans to misfire.
So, Friday’s lineup card had Betts at shortstop, and Lux back at second base, where he played every day for the club in his last healthy season in 2022. It’s not a one-day experiment.
“Permanent, for now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The Dodgers’ public comments surrounding Lux this winter were emphatic with their praise; after sitting behind $300-plus million shortstops in Corey Seager and Trea Turner, Lux would finally emerge from the wings. Yet the club still monitored the market for potential upgrades at the position this winter, and has remained interested in longtime target Willy Adames of the Brewers, as The Athletic reported Thursday.
Concerns about the club’s left-side infield defense only grew louder once Lux was cleared to return to game action. The former first-round pick committed errors in each of his first two chances this spring, airmailing his first throw to first baseman Kevin Padlo on February 28 and seemingly bouncing each throw to first base that followed. Lux had previously experienced throwing issues in his prospect days that required the club to ensconce him on a back field with special assistant José Vizcaíno during the spring of 2019; the infielder has been open about his struggles with anxiety and the work the club has done with mental skills coach Brent Walker to get Lux back to a productive level as a second baseman in 2022.
After a conversation with Lux and Betts on Thursday, Roberts made it public that Lux would be returning there in 2024.
“He was feeling the toll of it,” Roberts said, alluding to the mental aspect of Lux’s throwing woes. In a matter of six spring training games and just 10 defensive chances, the organization has pulled the plug. With less than two weeks before the start of the season, Roberts said, they didn’t have much choice.
“The calendar, where we’re at, we got to make a decision,” Roberts said. “I think right now that’s best for the Dodgers.”
Lux is expected to move the entirety of his work to second base, Roberts said, rather than continue to work through the throwing issues in spot duty at shortstop. Rather than option him outright, the Dodgers still want to have Lux’s bat in their order, with the left-handed hitter finding his form with the best offensive season of his career in 2022 (a 109 OPS+).
Friday’s announcement cemented a situation that had snowballed rapidly and rather obviously. But to go to Betts, who himself hadn’t played shortstop in nearly a decade before being pressed into duty for 16 games (12 starts) last season, presents another potential challenge for baseball’s glitziest roster. The Dodgers had already announced this winter that the six-time Gold Glove right fielder would be moving to second base essentially full-time after unlocking the club’s roster as a de facto utility man a year ago; Betts, of course, had a more established track record on the right side of the infield after being drafted at the position.
“This is something that I know he didn’t expect, we didn’t expect,” Roberts said.
Forced to the other side of the diamond last season after Lux’s knee injury and after Miguel Rojas suffered a hamstring injury, Betts saw just 46 balls hit his way. That he graded out neutrally there in such a small sample was a testament to his athleticism, but reflected the fragile foundation the club had at the position after Lux’s injury.
Now, they were left in a similar position. The rest of their shortstop depth chart besides Lux looks close to identical to a year ago. Rojas was sterling defensively but is coming off back-to-back offensive seasons that graded well below average. Kiké Hernández struggled mightily as the Red Sox full-time shortstop at the beginning of last season before addressing a two-year lingering abdominal injury with double hernia surgery this past winter. Chris Taylor has experience at the position but is needed in the outfield and dealt with a lingering knee issue last summer. Each could still log starts at the position with Betts still free to play some second base, but the Dodgers have settled into their most likely alignment.
The offseason that seemingly had everything still had one surprise up its sleeve.
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(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
