With Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts succeeding at playing shortstop, there has been some discussion about putting him back in the outfield. After Betts led the Dodgers to a win over the Cincinnati Reds, MLB insider and analyst Ken Rosenthal had his own opinion on the potential move for the star.
Rosenthal would appear on “Foul Territory,” where he would exclaim that Los Angeles should not move Betts away from shortstop as he has been “brilliant.” Though struggling early, he has eased in and played extremely well as he ranks in the 88th percentile in Range and the 74th percentile in Fielding Run Value, per Baseball Savant.
“They should not move Mookie to right field, in my opinion,” Rosenthal said. “And I'll tell you why. Mookie is playing right now, a brilliant shortstop, really, if you watch him play, he is adapted, or has adapted to that position as well as anyone possibly could. He has shown that he can play it and play it at a high level. So they are good with him at shortstop.”
The Dodgers should NOT move Mookie Betts to right field, says @Ken_Rosenthal.
“Right now, Mookie is playing a brilliant shortstop.” pic.twitter.com/yBKz2S3aZ4
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) August 26, 2025
Ken Rosenthal on Mookie Betts and the rest of the Dodgers' outfield
As the rumors will continue around the Dodgers and how some players could be moved throughout positions, Rosenthal is confident that Betts has excelled at playing shortstop. That leaves the question of how the outfield will play out, mentioning names such as where Teoscar Hernandez will play and how it will impact the inevitable injury return of Tommy Edman and Hyeseong Kim.
“Now, the outfield, the situation with Hernandez is this, if you play them him right, you're going to have guys going first or third,” Rosenthal said. “If you play them in left, you're going to have guys stretching singles into doubles. That's kind of a lesser of two evils type of thing. He was not a particularly good defender last season and left during the regular season, but in the postseason was much better.”
“So I would expect that they're going to keep him in right, because he does prefer right,” Rosenthal continued. “He believes he sees the ball better off the bat in right, and then figure out left and center between Edman and Hernandez, and Kim coming back. You can do a number of things there.”
At any rate, it remains to be seen what Los Angeles does with Betts and the rest of the outfield, but the team is 75-57, putting them first in the NL West as they face Cincinnati tonight and Wednesday night.
