Mookie Betts and the Dodgers took a long, hard look at their lineup this week and came to the same conclusion: They are a better team with Betts in right field, the position he has won six Gold Glove Awards at, as opposed to shortstop, the position he was thrust into this spring and played competitively — but not at a Gold Glove level — for 2 1/2 months.
Roberts made the move official before Friday night’s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he announced that Betts, who has missed two months because of a left-hand fracture, will return to right field when he is activated for Monday night’s series opener at Milwaukee, with the slick-fielding Miguel Rojas remaining at shortstop. Roberts had said on Tuesday that Betts would return at shortstop.
“I think it was kind of a mutual thing, but I would say I mostly went to them,” said Betts, 31. “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.’
“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 Miggy and Nick Ahmed being there, that’s winning baseball.”
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Betts was moved from right field to second base last winter, but when shortstop Gavin Lux committed several throwing errors in spring training, the Dodgers moved Betts to shortstop, a position he hadn’t played regularly since high school, and Lux to second.
The eight-time All-Star worked tirelessly before every game in an effort to become proficient at his new position. He committed nine errors — eight of them throwing — in the 65 games he played at shortstop, but he improved as he gained experience and accumulated five defensive runs saved there, according to Fangraphs.
But when Rojas returned from a forearm injury on Wednesday and with Lux one of the team’s hottest hitters for the past month, Roberts felt the Dodgers would be best served with Betts in right field, a move that will push right fielder Jason Heyward to the bench and Teoscar Hernández from right field to left.
“We’re…