LOS ANGELES – Mookie Betts sounded like a man worn down by the demands of a new job when he slumped into the chair at the front of the interview room outside the Dodgers’ clubhouse following Friday’s game.
“This is really hard. It’s really, really hard,” Betts said of the main thing he has learned about playing shortstop at the major-league level. “It is what it is. Gotta do it. I enjoy doing it, but the main thing is that it’s really, really hard.”
Betts was speaking after a rough defensive game. He made a throwing error and dropped the ball at second base while trying to turn a double play. His evaluation of his play at shortstop this season reflected his displeasure with that.
“I think it’s been not very good,” he said. “It’s a work in progress. It’s my first time doing it in a long time. You have to start somewhere and at least with me feeling like I’m on the lower end, there’s nowhere to go but up from here.”
He acknowledged that he had “made some strides” since being asked to make the move to shortstop late in spring training.
“But they are some pretty short strides,” he said. “I can’t speed it up. There’s no way to speed it up. As bad as I want to, it’s hard. It’s hard for everybody. I just started doing it and experience is the best teacher.”
Betts got the day off Saturday – a decision Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said was made well in advance and was not a response to anything, in particular. The mental fatigue that seemed evident in Betts’ comments Friday night hasn’t been seen by him, Roberts said.
“He expects a lot of himself,” Roberts said. “I don’t expect the workload before games to continue through the season. He’s trying to continue to build a foundation. But yeah, I think if anyone can handle it, he can. But he expects a lot of himself, whether he’s playing second base or right field or performing at the plate, he expects a lot of himself.
“I think offensively he’s been very good and defensively he continues to get repetitions. And he has superseded everything I expected from him at this point at shortstop.”
Through Saturday, Betts was tied for fifth in the majors among shortstops in errors (six) but was also third in Defensive Runs Saved behind only Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. and St. Louis rookie Masyn Winn.
Any frustration or discomfort Betts might be feeling about his defensive challenge, it has not spilled over to his offense. He went into Sunday’s game third in the majors in batting average (.341) and OPS (1.002), second in hits (63) and runs scored (40) and leading in on-base percentage (.440),
Betts said the experience of moving to shortstop has been humbling in some ways.
“But it’s good. I enjoy it,” he said of the challenge. “Sometimes it’s good to get hit in the mouth a lot. But it is what it is. Take it on the chin and keep it moving.”
ROSTER MOVES
Along with promoting right-hander Landon Knack from Triple-A Oklahoma City for Sunday’s start, the Dodgers added journeyman left-hander Anthony Banda to the active roster. J.P. Feyereisen and Ricky Vanasco were sent back to Triple-A.
Banda, 30, was acquired from the Cleveland Guardians on Friday in exchange for cash considerations. A veteran of parts of seven big-league seasons, Banda was in Triple-A this year where he had a 2.12 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17 innings.
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“We’ve had eyes on him for a couple of years and just to get him adds another left handed arm,” Roberts said. “There’s a fastball. There’s a slider or sweeper. There’s a changeup, two different fastballs, four-seam, two-seam. So we’re going to run him out there.”
The addition of Banda gives the Dodgers three left-handers in the bullpen now with Alex Vesia and Ryan Yarbrough. Yarbrough will slip back into more a long-man role now, Roberts said.
ALSO
By starting Knack Sunday, the Dodgers will push their starting rotation back a day. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Monday) and Gavin Stone (Tuesday) will start on six days’ rest. Tyler Glasnow’s start on Wednesday will come on five days’ rest. The Dodgers have not started Yamamoto or Glasnow on less than five days’ rest yet this year.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks (RHP Slade Cecconi, 1-3, 5.27 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4-1, 3.21 ERA), Monday, 7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM
