{"id":601916,"date":"2026-03-02T17:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/601916\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:18:15","slug":"mookie-betts-trying-to-become-yoshi-at-shortstop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/601916\/","title":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts Trying to Become ‘Yoshi at Shortstop’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mookie Betts was in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Sunday for the first time this spring as he’s among the veterans being eased into action<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said early in camp he’s noticed a renewed sense of calm<\/a> in Betts, stemming from his comfort playing shortstop now. And for the four-time champion, working with Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s trainer, Osamu Yada, often called “Yada Sensei,” has proved beneficial.<\/p>\n

Among the new unorthodox training methods Betts has taken to is throwing javelins.<\/p>\n

“It’s going good. I don’t throw it nearly as far as Yoshi, but from when I first started to now, it’s like night-and-day difference,” Betts told Kirsten Watson on SportsNet LA. “Even me just throwing the ball across the diamond, it’s a lot different than last year in a very positive way.<\/p>\n

“Yoshi, what he did, going back-to-back (days), how he stays healthy and whatnot, why not? If Yoshi can do it, and you see what he’s doing, I figured I could be a Yoshi at shortstop.”<\/p>\n

Betts finished as a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop last season and has said he would like to win the award this year. Betts also envisions finishing the rest of his career as a shortstop. He remains under contract with the Dodgers through the 2032 season. <\/p>\n

More changes for Mookie Betts <\/p>\n

Betts went 0-for-2 in the Dodgers’ comeback win against the Los Angeles Angels, reaching on a force out and scoring a run. He hit third, which is where Roberts has decided<\/a> Betts will be slotted in the lineup for the regular season.<\/p>\n

“This offseason, I did a little less,” Betts said. “Two years in a row getting to the World Series and whatnot, I just really kind of chilled and tried to recover from all the little bumps and bruises and whatnot.<\/p>\n

“Coming into spring, I got here, and obviously I was a little bit behind. But it was strategic, right? I was able to get here and really ramp it up for, I don’t know, it was like two weeks. Now I’m ready to go. This year I’m taking my time, so we’ll see how it goes. <\/p>\n

“It’s going to be my first time not getting 50 at-bats, but I feel pretty good.”<\/p>\n

Roberts shared he believes Betts is going to move past his offensive struggles last season and be in the conversation for<\/a> 2026 National League MVP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts was in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Sunday for the first time this spring as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-601916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-dodgers","12":"tag-ladodgers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesdodgers","17":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116160725386684098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}