Dodgers' Mookie Betts Expected to Move Back to Infield for 2025 MLB Season, GM Says

Mookie Betts, who has won six Gold Glove Awards in right field, is set to move back to the infield in 2025.

Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said on Wednesday that the team expects the 32-year-old to play at second base or shortstop next season, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Betts began the 2024 season in the infield, where he played 65 games at shortstop and 16 at second base. After returning from a broken hand in August he switched back to the outfield, where he helped the Dodgers win the World Series in October.

L.A manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Aug. 6, as Betts prepared to return from IL, that he expected the star to slot in at shortstop.

That plan changed in the next three days. Roberts said on Aug. 9 that the eight-time All-Star would move back to the outfield because he "feels more comfortable playing in right field."

Betts told reporters the same day that the decision "was kind of a mutual thing, but I would say I mostly went to them."

"I said, 'Listen, I believe I can do it, but I want to win, man. I want to win. And I don't know if me [at shortstop] is the best solution," Betts said, per Mike Digiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. "I loved the challenge of playing shortstop, but you also have to be real with yourself and the team, and do what's best. That's what I've preached from the beginning.

"All I want to do is win. I just feel like [Miguel Rojas] and Nick Ahmed being there, that's winning baseball."

Given the backlog at shortstop, second base seems the most likely opening for Betts on the Dodgers' current roster, excepting injuries heading into 2025. Second baseman Gavin Lux could be a trade candidate this winter if L.A. is planning on committing to Betts as a full-time option at the keystone.

Betts went into 2024 expecting to play as the team's second baseman before Roberts informed him that he would be playing at shortstop two weeks before the season opened, per Will Graves of the Associated Press.

Given his fielding struggles early last season, Betts could benefit from more notice as to which spot will be his full-time position in 2025.