There are plenty of things you can take away from the Dodgers' 2025 season so far as we head into the latter part of August, which range from the difficulty of pitching management, injuries, and subpar offensive numbers. Still, one that may come to a head and invoke change is the situation in the outfield.
More specifically, it involves the right field position and Teoscar Hernández.
On Monday night, the Dodgers suffered a 4-3 walk-off loss against the 36-89 Colorado Rockies, which, to the Rockies' benefit, was set up primarily by some crucial errors in the outfield by Hernández.
“He’s got to get better out there. There’s just no [other] way to put it,” Roberts said of Hernández's overall play in right field on Monday night, per Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not a lack of effort. But, you know, we’ve just got to kind of get better. We do.”
Following the loss, Mookie Betts met with Dave Roberts and the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, in Roberts' office, according to Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times.
Of course, it was unclear as to what was said in that meeting, but the action of the assembly itself may spark some changes that were due.
So what type of changes are on the horizon for the Dodgers?
Simply put, the Dodgers might move Betts back to his main position in right field and rotate Alex Freeland and Miguel Rojas at shortstop. Betts has played over 5,000 innings in right field alone and is a six-time Gold Glove winner; Freeland primarily played shortstop in the minors, with over 300 starts, and Rojas was one of Betts' mentors during his transition from right field to short.
In terms of where Hernández would play, he would slip right back to left field and take the place of Michael Conforto, who has been hitting below the Mendoza line all season.
With how crucial the next couple of weeks are going to be for Los Angeles, especially ramping up towards another weekend series against the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers may have to scrap their season plan and go back to the basics.
MORE MLB NEWS:
- Cardinals urged to make aggressive JJ Wetherholt contract decision
- Tigers' Chris Paddack 'destroyed' by Twins despite weak contact
- Padres prospect traded to Athletics for Mason Miller called up to Double-A
- Cardinals' Yohel Pozo shares heartwarming message amid emotional home run
- Guardians exec breaks silence on Triston McKenzie's return to Triple-A
- Guardians predicted to call up John Means in September after seven years with Orioles