Cody Snavely
As we enter the late stages of the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season, with October and the postseason on the horizon, the Dodgers are arguably playing their best baseball of the season at the right time.
Entering the year, there was more excitement than any other Dodgers season in recent memory, and for a good reason. The Dodgers front office led by President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Bradon Gomes was active all winter, bringing in star talents such as Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani on a massive ten-year $700 million deal.
However, despite the Dodgers landing the big fish in Ohtani, it was Mookie Betts who was off to a blazing hot start to the 2024 campaign.
Betts, acquired by the Dodgers during the 2019/2020 offseason, quickly re-signed with the team before the start of the shortened sixty-game season to a substantial twelve-year $365 million deal.
Betts impacted the Dodgers franchise, instantly leading the Dodgers to their first World Series Championship since 1988 while finishing runner-up in the National League Most Valuable Player Award to former Atlanta Brave and current teammate Freddie Freeman.
Fast forward to the 2024 season, and the Dodgers were shifting Betts all around the baseball field, finally landing him as the full-time shortstop, a position he had not played full-time since high school.
However, Betts used the challenge to elevate his game to new heights. Those with short-term memory will recall Betts as the National League Most Valuable Award frontrunner until he fractured his hand on a hit-by-pitch in mid-June.
Betts’s slash line in the first half of the 2024 season was .304/.405/.488, with a .892 OPS and a wRC+ of 153, all while transitioning to a new position on the fly.
The ten-year veteran had gotten off to one of the hottest starts of his career, hitting .368/.477/.624 with a 1.101 OPS, forty-six hits, ten doubles, two triples, six home runs, twenty-three RBI, and eight stolen bases, which is already more than half of what he had in 2023 (14).
Mookie Betts also led baseball in fWAR (2.8), wRC+ (213), wOBA (.477), OPS (1.101), OBP (.477), AVG (.368), BB/K (1.63), H (46), and R (29) and played above-average shortstop, ranking 64th in OAA (Outs Above Average). All of this earned him the National League Player of the Month Award for March/April, a testament that despite the shiny new toys added in the offseason, it was Betts who made the Dodgers work.
However, upon his return, the Dodgers once again shifted gears, not only placing Betts back in right field, a position that he had played the majority of his career, winning six Gold Glove Awards but also moving him down in the order from leadoff to the two-hole.
The Dodgers played forty-seven games during Betts’ time on the injured list, winning just twenty-seven and going just seven games over .500 in that span. Compared to the first half of the 2024 season, where the Dodgers were sixteen games over .500 with forty-five wins and ninety-nine losses.
Since his activation, the Dodgers have reverted to their dominant ways, winning fifteen of their last twenty-one games, and Betts has been a massive reason for that, hitting .296/.352/.543 with a 143 wRC+.
The first significant change to Betts this season upon his return was moving down one spot in the order and allowing Ohtani to retain the leadoff spot.
Throughout his career, Betts has been one of, if not the best leadoff hitters playing right now, and this season was no different as the righty had a .304/.405/.488 slash line with a .892 OPS; however, not much has changed since moving down.
Like many perennial all-star players, it does not matter where you put them, and Betts has thrived in the two-hole, hitting .300/.356/.550 with a .906 OPS and 145 wRC+ while also giving the Dodgers flexibility in their lineup to break up the lefty bats of Ohtani and Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman.
However, Betts really shines as the two-hole hitter because of his ability to hit with RISP, an area in which he has excelled his entire career. Entering Tuesday’s game, Betts was hitting .377/.451/.649 with a 1.100 OPS and 199 wRC+, which ranked third in the National League (min 90 at-bats) and a .313/.395/.531 slash line in high-leverage situations.
The Angels tested those stats in Tuesday’s opener, opting to intentionally walk designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and go after Mookie Betts, who has also, in his career, hit .324/437/.590 with twenty-seven home runs and a .427 batting average and 1.365 OPS just this season with two-out RISP.
The Dodgers have struggled with RISP this entire season, ranking seventh in the National League in terms of total offense with a 109 wRC+ in those situations. Betts’s addition has already helped with that.
The change in the batting order has also raised Betts’ HR/FB (home run to flyball ratio) from 8.6% in the first half to 16.7% in the second. In yesterday’s postgame interview, he stated that it helps to hit behind someone to see the pitcher work beforehand.
Defensively, it has been more of the same with Betts, as his defense has been in decline since the 2021 season.
The Dodgers took a risk by shifting Betts to be the full-time shortstop at the beginning of the season, and for the most part, he was slightly above league average, but as the dog days of summer commenced, we saw a sharp decline.
Betts had accumulated 531.1 innings at shortstop, posting a .963 fielding percentage, four DRS (defensive runs saved), a -4.7 UZR, and a subpar -5 OAA.
The move to right field has also been underwhelming with the glove, which is to be expected given that it has been his first handful of games out there this season. So far, Betts has posted a .947 fielding percentage in right field in 170 innings, along with one DRS and one OAA.
Statistically, second base was the best position that Betts had played this season, where the righty had a clean 1.000 fielding percentage along with an even zero OAA. Still, with Gavin Lux‘s second-half resurgence, there has been no discussion for Betts to take reps at second as much as it makes sense with Lux’s struggles against left-handed pitching.
Overall, Betts ranks in the 16th percentile in OAA and 26th in Fielding RUn Value, both of which are the lowest of his career. However, reverting to right field sets the team up for success in the short term this season. It allows defensive gurus Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas to man down shortstop, letting Lux flourish at second base and pushing Teoscar Hernández back to left field.
As the Dodgers season comes to a close and the 2024 Major League Baseball postseason is around the corner, we fans should reflect on the season and Betts’ impact since his return.
It is no coincidence that upon Betts’ activation, the team started winning more consistently, and with Betts seemingly playing with more fire and passion, as highlighted by his clutch three-run homerun on Tuesday, one can only hope he carries that into October.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
