By Mark Polishuk | at
Mookie Betts was hit on the left hand by a Dan Altavilla fastball today, causing Betts to drop to the ground in immediate pain and then leave the field. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times) after the game that Betts has a fractured bone in the hand and will be out of action “for some time,” though the former AL MVP won’t require surgery.
More will be known about Betts’ status and a potential recovery timeline in the coming days, but this is undoubtedly a huge blow for the Dodgers. As with any wrist- or hand-related injury, there is plenty of potential for lingering after-effects even after a player is officially cleared for action, given how any changes to grip or hand positioning on a bat can alter a swing. The first order of business for Betts and the Dodgers is just to manage this injury and the recovery as well as possible, though the concern won’t go away until Betts is both back on the field and displaying his usual superstar form at the plate.
Heading into today’s game, Betts was hitting .307/.407/.493 with 10 homers over a league-leading 327 plate appearances, adding 16 doubles and nine stolen bases (in 10 attempts) to those impressive numbers. In addition to that typically excellent offensive production, Betts has also been playing a key defensive role for the Dodgers as their everyday shortstop, a role Betts adopted during Spring Training after Gavin Lux was moved off the position. While defensive metrics have been mixed at best on Betts’ glovework, simply the fact that Betts was willing to change positions and at least passably handled the shortstop role just added to his importance to the L.A. roster.
The Dodgers were still expected to pursue middle infield help at the deadline, both because Lux hasn’t hit much, and to potentially hasten Betts’ move back to second base if a new everyday shortstop was obtained. Today’s developments probably make it even likelier that Los Angeles will look to add a shortstop regardless of how much time Betts misses, though it remains to be seen whether or not the Dodgers now look to make an acquisition sooner rather than later. The team will first want to access Betts’ health, of course, and teams with available infield depth might suddenly raise their asking prices if they perceive the Dodgers are in any way desperate.
In the short term, Roberts said that Miguel Vargas will be called back up from Triple-A to rejoin the infield mix. Miguel Rojas will get the bulk of regular shortstop duty, with Enrique Hernandez also factoring in at both shortstop and third base. Max Muncy is still sidelined with a lingering oblique injury and Roberts said today that Muncy’s recovery has been “even slower than expected,” so it is anyone’s guess as to when the third baseman might be able to help a suddenly-depleted Dodgers infield. Cavan Biggio was recently acquired from the Blue Jays to add to the depth mix, so Betts’ absence will open up more playing time for Biggio at second or third base.
Rojas has long been an excellent defender, and he has been surprisingly productive at the dish with a .278/.328/.444 slash line over 116 PA this season. His 122 wRC+ would be the second-best mark of his 11-year MLB career, though it is obviously a reach to expect Rojas to keep this up for a lengthy amount of time, given that he isn’t making much hard contact at the plate.
Even though the Dodgers lineup is full of big bats, losing Betts also underlines the club’s somewhat top-heavy nature. Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernandez have all been raking and Muncy was hitting well pre-injury, but Lux, Enrique Hernandez, and Chris Taylor have all been ice cold, while James Outman was struggling so much that Los Angeles optioned the outfielder to Triple-A.
With a 44-29 record, the Dodgers have arguably built up enough of a cushion to withstand losing Betts for a bit of time, as there doesn’t appear to be any danger that Los Angeles would suddenly fall out of the playoff race. However, it can’t be ignored that the Dodgers are now without Betts, Muncy, and more than an entire rotation’s worth of starting pitchers, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Michael Grove joining the long list of injured hurlers earlier today. The Dodgers have been able to both withstand and even thrive despite heavy injuries in past seasons, yet if this missing personnel is enough to drop the Dodgers out of a first-round postseason bye, it will give the team an even more difficult path to a World Series title.
