Just a day after Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts made his debut at shortstop, calling it a “dream come true,” the 30-year-old is back in the field for Friday's game against the Chicago Cubs.
Luke Wiliams will start at shortstop on Friday, while Betts while head to right field, according to the LA Times' Jack Harris.
On Wednesday night, Betts was in a hospital room in California for the birth of his son, and less than twenty-four hours later he was playing shortstop for the first time in his career.
Betts arrived at Wrigley Field in Chicago after the game had already started, and pinch hit in the top of the seventh inning for Williams, singling to right field before taking over at shortstop for the rest of the contest as LA won 6-2.
“It was like a dream come true,” Betts said afterward, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. “I got drafted as a shortstop and hadn't seen it since like 2011. I'm happy we won.”
“A lot of nerves but you embrace it,” Betts explained when asked how he felt playing the position for the first time. “You learn to play nervous. If I wasn't nervous that probably means I don't love it…I don't care where I play. I just want to win.”
He looked at home in the position, making a phenomenal individual effort to turn a double play in the bottom of the eighth with the game tied 2-2 on a Patrick Wisdom hard hit ground ball behind second base.
“He made it look really easy and athletic. I think that's his goal in life, to be a major league shortstop,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said with a smile. “I could see it happening more.”
It wouldn't be surprising to see Dodgers' Mookie Betts back at SS in the short-term, but it won't be on Friday as he heads back to the outfield position he knows so well.
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