Troy Tulowitzki never knew Mookie Betts particularly well during their time together in Major League Baseball.
A five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove shortstop, Tulowitzki played against Betts plenty near the end of his 13-year career, overlapping with the start of Betts’ rise to stardom with the Boston Red Sox. The two had mutual friends and were division foes for three years while Tulowitzki was with the Toronto Blue Jays from 2015 to 2017.
But with Betts just beginning his career and Tulowitzki winding down his decorated playing days, their interactions were limited. The first time they met, Betts was almost too shy to say hello.
“He was like, ‘Oh man, I was so scared to talk to you,’” Tulowitzki said with a laugh recently, after hearing Betts recount the story years later. “Now, obviously, he’s one of the best players in the game.”
One of the best, yes. But also one in search of guidance in playing shortstop.
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So as Betts embarked on a tireless training program this offseason, preparing to play the position full-time for the Dodgers after his inconsistent three-month stretch last season, he reached out to Tulowitzki and asked to spend some time training together.
Tulowitzki, now an assistant coach with the Texas Longhorns, happily obliged — excited to work with a player of Betts’ caliber and, like the rest of the baseball world, also curious to see how the six-time Gold Glove right fielder would fare in his virtually unprecedented position switch.
“To be one of the best defenders in the game, if not the best with the Platinum Gloves and Gold Gloves and all that, and then to go to shortstop,” Tulowitzki said, “I’d watch him play [last year] and was like, ‘Eh, he’s OK there.’ But that’s what he should be.”
Fast-forward a few months, however, and you can count Tulowitzki among the growing contingent of those sold on Betts’ potential at shortstop.
“I wouldn’t say this for anybody else that’s just spent however many years in the outfield and then go to the infield,” Tulowitzki said of a position change that has no equivalent in recent baseball history. “But I can truly tell you, I think he can be an elite defender at the position — which is just crazy…