'That's what I expect.' Dodgers' Mookie Betts seeks to regain his All-Star form

Since his first full season in 2015, Mookie Betts had either been named an All-Star or received votes for most valuable player every year.

That held true until last year. In his sixth season with the Dodgers, Betts posted career lows in batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.326), and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.732) while playing 148 games at shortstop.

Betts, now 33, believes last year was an outlier and he can get back to his previous form.

Read more:For pitching prospect Jackson Ferris, Dodgers organization is 'a breath of fresh air'

“That’s what I expect,” Betts said after making his Cactus League debut Sunday. “I haven’t felt this way in a long time. So, the way I feel now, I’m healthy, my swing’s in a really good spot. My head’s in a really good spot. I haven’t had any bad days in the cage. I haven’t had any bad days [taking batting practice]. Usually by now, I would have taken a thousand swings, trying to fix stuff, trying to get game-ready, and now I’m just cruising. I’m just cruising and I’m ready to go.”

This spring, manager Dave Roberts offered an unequivocal vote of confidence.

“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen.”

A stomach bug that caused him to lose a considerable amount of weight put Betts behind last spring, and he never quite caught up. Through his first 103 games, he batted .231 with a .302 on-base percentage and .657 OPS. Enduring the longest cold spell of his career, Betts was forced to retool.

“It’s really just going back to what I what I do best, and really just honing in on it,” Betts said. “Instead of trying to fix problems, I was more able to just hone in on what I do best. And kind of groove those patterns instead of trying to fix old habits.”

Read more:Shaikin: In L.A. and in Cooperstown, Freddie Freeman will forever be a Dodger, not a Brave

Betts says in a bizarre way, he enjoyed his season of soul searching.

“I learned a lot about myself,” Betts said. “I learned a lot about how I operate. I was able to get in the right headspace, and sustain the right headspace. And then once I was able to kind of get in the right headspace and stay there, I haven’t been searching, I haven’t been doing anything since I’ve been here outside of just working and preparing.”

Things started to click in late summer. Over his final 47 games, he batted .317 with a .376 on-base percentage and .892 OPS.

It wasn’t the stats that bothered Betts as much as his lack of production through the first four months.

“Once I was able to help the boys, I was fine," Betts said. But before that, I was really upset, not with the numbers per se, but not being able to help. Not doing my job, carrying my weight. Once I was able to do stuff, especially later on in the season, I was able to just take a step back and say, ‘You did pretty good.’"

Part of the plan for maximizing Betts’ abilities is minimizing his work in camp. Betts was the last healthy position player to appear in a spring game, starting Sunday after sitting for the first nine games. He was back in the lineup Monday, collecting his first hit with a single in three at-bats against the Colorado Rockies.

“It’s intentional,” Roberts said last week. “It’s load management. I wanted Mookie to start a little bit later, as far as not getting into spring training ready to go and kind of use spring training to build up, given it’s six weeks.”

Gavin Stone suffers setback, Dodgers ‘pause’ his throwing

Six days after Gavin Stone made his Cactus League debut and threw a scoreless inning, Roberts said Stone suffered a setback and will pause throwing activities. Stone missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October 2024.

“Stone threw the inning and then he had a bullpen the next day, and then his shoulder flared up and was sore,” Roberts said before Monday's game. “And so right now, we put him on ice, and trying to let the soreness dissipate. So, given everything that he’s gone through with the shoulder, we wanted to make sure that we kind of pushed pause, so I don’t know when he’s going to start throwing again, but I think it is a setback unfortunately.”

Roberts added that the setback was not expected.

Read more:Edwin Díaz is unquestionably the Dodgers' closer. How the rest of the bullpen shapes up

“He’s worked so hard to kind of get back to where he was pitching in a game," Roberts said. "We’re excited about that. He threw the baseball really well, and it was one inning, so it wasn’t too taxing. So, to come back in his 'pen and not feel good, that’s disappointing, and it’s not from lack of effort, but yeah, just disappointing.”

Roberts also confirmed right-hander Roki Sasaki would make his second Cactus League start Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians, with the expectation he would go three innings, and right-hander Tyler Glasnow would start Wednesday's game against Team Mexico in a World Baseball Classic tuneup.

Etc.

The Dodgers announced they were reassigning pitchers Patrick Copen, Luke Fox, Jerming Rosario, Adam Serwinowski, Nick Frasso and Jose Rodriguez, catchers Nelson Quiroz and Chuckie Robinson, infielders Keston Hiura and Matt Gorski and outfielder Chris Newell to minor league camp.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.