Dodgers Analysis: Dodgers’ Top-of-Order Choice: Will Betts or Tucker Bat No. 2 in 2026

LOS ANGELES, CA—With the 2026 Major League Baseball offseason coming to a close, the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers continued to shock the baseball world by inking four-time All-Star Kyle Tucker to a record-setting 4-year, $240 million contract.

In short, the signing made sense for Los Angeles, which was short an outfielder after the departure of one-year experiment Michael Conforto, and wanted to add another bat to help prevent its second-half offensive decline.

Their prize? Just the No. 1 free agent on the market.

Following last week’s introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts provided more clarity on Tucker’s role within the already star-studded Dodgers roster.

“Obviously, he’ll be in right field and Teo is excited about playing left field. He’ll be in the top third. I don’t want you guys to hold me to it right now, but second or third seems to make sense.”

With a new trio set to start the game for Los Angeles, the question arises: Who will bat second behind Shohei Ohtani?

The Ball Is in Mookie Betts’ Court to Stay in the No. 2 Spot

After finishing runner-up in the 2023 National League MVP race to Ronald Acuña Jr. after putting up career-best numbers, it has been an injury-plagued and confusing two years for Mookie Betts.

Entering the 2024 season, Betts was expected to be the Dodgers’ primary second baseman, but after former top prospect Gavin Lux couldn’t solve the yips, the team made a hasty decision to move Betts to shortstop.

As we all saw, it was a work in progress for Betts defensively, but the offense still remained, as heading into mid-June, Betts was considered by many to be an early NL MVP frontrunner, hitting .304/.405/.488 with a .892 OPS and 152 wRC+, but a fractured wrist, which would sideline him until August, would derail that performance.

However, upon his return, Betts was hit with a double-whammy as not only did the team opt to move him back to right field, but he was removed from the leadoff role after Ohtani’s historic 2024 season in his absence.

Offensively, Betts’ numbers dipped, posting just a 118 wRC+ in the second half as the Dodgers went on to beat the New York Yankees in five games of the Fall Classic.

Fast-forwarding to the 2025 season, with a full offseason of preparation for shortstop under his belt, Betts was prepared for a rebound 2025 season, but just as the team geared up to open the regular season in Tokyo, Japan, Betts was hit with an unknown illness that forced him to miss the two-game series and drop a ton of weight.

Whether that initial weight loss and journey to regain it over the course of the regular season was the cause for arguably Betts’ worst offensive season remains to be seen, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Betts had the worst offensive season of his career last season, where he slashed .258/.326/.406 with a slightly above league-average 104 wRC+, but still has a solid 3.4 fWAR thanks to his elite defense at shortstop.

Even with a fresh start in October, Betts failed to get the job done with the team even demoting him further in the batting order in Game Six and Game Seven, a possible foreshadowing for the upcoming season.

For the Dodgers, in order for Betts to keep the two-hole in the batting order, they’ll need to see his numbers return to form in order for the team to have someone to protect Ohtani as the game goes on.

Statistically, the further Betts has batted, the lower his offensive production has been: 144 wRC+ at first, 118 at second, 111 at third, and 126 at fourth, a similar situation that has also followed Kyle Tucker in his young career.

Kyle Tucker’s Consistency Makes Him the Ideal No. 2 Hitter

Despite a “down” season for Kyle Tucker in his lone season on the North Side of Chicago with the Cubs, Tucker was still able to put together a solid campaign, making the NL All-Star team and posting a 136 wRC+ across 136 games.

Over the last two seasons, injuries have been Tucker’s Achilles heel: a fractured shin forced him to miss a significant portion of the 2024 season with the Houston Astros, and an undisclosed wrist injury affected him at the plate with the Cubs in 2025.

While Tucker has never posted a fWAR over five, he’s remained one of the most consistent hitters in baseball, and unlike traditional left-handed hitters, he’s hit both righties (141 wRC+) and lefties (133 wRC+) at an elite level.

That is also something that would benefit Tucker over Betts, as despite being a left-handed hitter and setting the Dodgers having back-to-back left-handed hitters in the order (Ohtani leading off), Tucker’s dip in performance versus left-handers is not as dramatic compared to Betts over the last two seasons.

Betts, while still posting above-average numbers versus right-handed pitchers, has a 105 wRC+ that does not compare to Tucker’s numbers since 2024.

Just this past season, Tucker posted a 144 wRC+ in the two-hole, and comparing the two players’ output over the last two seasons combined, Tucker has outperformed Betts considerably, posting a 158 wRC+ compared to Betts’ 122.

Even deeper with the statistics, Tucker has posted a higher barrel rate, more consistent HR/FB rate, lower chase rate, and elite walk rate, although Betts does generate his fair share of walks, too.

What concerns Betts is that over the last two seasons, we’ve seen him become increasingly ground-ball-heavy, and his hard-hit rate, which ranked in the 19th percentile on Baseball Savant, was considerably lower than Tucker’s.

Verdict?

Despite Tucker looking like the clear favorite for the No. 2 spot in the batting order, I still expect the season to start with Mookie Betts batting behind Shohei Ohtani.

At the end of the day, the Dodgers have to respect who Betts is and give him the opportunity to rebound from his 2025 lows and return to the hitter he was in prior seasons.

However, if Betts continued to decline, don’t expect the team to ride it out with him there throughout the whole season like they did last year, as if Tucker, Smith, or Freeman remain productive, they’d be a better fit.

I’m expecting a big year from Betts, who now has a full offseason under his belt to not only work on his craft as a shortstop but also work on his swing and offensive production, along with regaining that lost weight/muscle that should help him find more consistency.

Still, if Tucker does win the job, the Dodgers can’t go wrong either, but expect Dave Roberts to experiment with the order during spring training.

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