From shortstop to right field, pickleball to the playoffs, there’s nothing Mookie Betts can’t do
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
The pickleball craze that swept the United States in recent years finally reached Mookie Betts some time around January. It became his go-to extracurricular activity in spring training, during which he arranged for a custom court to be built on the lawn of his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino. The project was finished by late June, about a week after he fractured his left hand on a hit by pitch. It was perfect timing. Betts was quickly able to replace one obsession — learning shortstop, arguably his sport’s most difficult position, on the fly — with another: pelting plastic balls with 16-inch paddles.
“I’m the type of person who can’t just sit down,” Betts said. “I don’t operate that way.”
Betts’ season has been about as dynamic as his disposition. It began with him preparing to become a full-time second baseman, after eight seasons and six Gold Gloves in right field, only to switch to shortstop less than a week before he and the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers flew to South Korea to open their season. Betts spent the next three months painstakingly trying to pull off the type of midcareer position change no player of his stature had ever attempted, then spent the next eight weeks rehabilitating an ill-fated injury — only to return to right field and settle into the No. 2 spot of the lineup.
When Betts went down June 16, he led the National League in FanGraphs wins above replacement. Since coming back Aug. 12, he ranks fourth in win probability added. He’s producing at his customary level, with a .293/.377/.500 slash line, 19 home runs and 16 stolen bases in 111 games. But his value to this year’s Dodgers has been marked by acquiescence and proficiency. He moved out of leadoff, a spot where he’d made 80% of his career starts, and helped pave the way for Shohei Ohtani‘s unprecedented 50/50 season. And he moved all over the field to accommodate the Dodgers’ roster construction.
“I don’t think you can quantify the value of his willingness to move around the diamond,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You just don’t see superstars willing to put themselves out there to potentially fail. And there’s no place on the diamond that you probably can get exposed more than at shortstop.”
There’s a part of Betts that misses shortstop. Misses sweating through those early afternoon hours while repeatedly taking ground balls from every conceivable angle. Misses sitting on the grass with coaches and analyzing his footwork on a tablet that recorded his every move. Misses peppering veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas with questions about how to handle the multitude of situations that come up in a game. Misses immersing himself in something new and exciting and difficult.
“I had the time of my life,” Betts, 31, said.
He also learned something about himself.
“I’m a lot stronger than I thought. I can do more things than I thought.”
Betts had spent much of his time in L.A. longing to return to second base, where he spent most of his time in the minor leagues. He finally got his wish heading into the 2024 season, with Jason Heyward looking like a sensible option for semi-regular playing time in right field. But then Gavin Lux‘s throwing issues re-emerged in the wake of knee surgery, and suddenly, a handful of days into March, the Dodgers were left scrambling.
The only way they could preserve their most talented lineup was for Betts to somehow learn shortstop — for a future Hall of Famer to open himself up to criticism and make himself vulnerable at the height of his powers.
Betts saw it as an opportunity to face a fear.
“On the other side of that fear and all the criticism is bliss, beautifulness,” Betts said. “That’s where my brain was — ‘Get through all this. Once you get through it, it’s going to be great.'”
Betts is often self-deprecating and at times even self-loathing, a trait that has helped him unlock athletic greatness at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds. His foray into shortstop, a task that satiated his constant need for challenges, brought out the most extreme versions of his meticulousness. But the difficulty of it, and the scrutiny that surrounded it, helped him find balance.
“I wasn’t going to be self-critical while everybody else was, too,” Betts said. “It wasn’t going to be me and everybody else against me, that’s for damn sure. It was going to be me against the world at that point. That’s the thing I really learned — how to be my own cheerleader. How to be my own best friend.”
Betts committed nine errors in 61 starts at shortstop, all but one of which were the result of throws. Some of the advanced metrics did not grade him out favorably. But he was adequate. And he was steadily improving. And if he continued to hone in on the footwork required to make throws from certain angles, Dodgers infield coach Dino Ebel believes, he could have vied for a Gold Glove there eventually.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get to that part, but I think we were on our way, man,” Betts said. “I’m just proud of myself for accepting the challenge that comes with it.”
If not for the 98-mph fastball that ran in on his hands in the middle of June, Betts could have remained at shortstop and perhaps even given Ohtani a run for the MVP. But Betts didn’t spend much time lamenting the injury. He appreciated the rare time it provided with his family; how it helped him get closer to his 17-month-old son, Kaj. And he cherished all the pickleball he got to play with his wife, Brianna, a quasi-tradition they’ve maintained after home games throughout the season.
By the time Betts was healthy enough to return, Ohtani was thriving in the leadoff spot and Roberts began to see the benefit of using the right-handed-hitting Betts to split up the lefty-hitting Ohtani and Freddie Freeman at the top of his lineup. At that point, Rojas, the best defensive shortstop on the team, was in the midst of a career year offensively, Lux had completely turned his season around while solidifying himself at second base and Heyward’s bat had slowed.
“The thing that keeps Mookie going are certain challenges,” Roberts said, “but I do think he is smart enough to understand the roster, the landscape of our ballclub and what makes sense for our ballclub. And at that point in time, it was clear that he needed to go to right field.”
Given the uncertainty of their starting rotation — Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone are out; Clayton Kershaw is still on the mend; Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler have each had their struggles — the Dodgers will probably have to win with offense in October. And Betts will have to be a catalyst. Encouraging signs have emerged lately.
Twice, an opponent has chosen to intentionally walk Ohtani to instead pitch to Betts. Twice, Betts has made them pay — with a three-run homer in the 10th inning from Angel Stadium on Sept. 3 and a ninth-inning, go-ahead single from Atlanta on Sept. 15. Seven days later, in a come-from-behind win against the Colorado Rockies, Betts hit his first walk-off home run as a Dodger immediately after Ohtani tied the score in the ninth.
Betts has thrived in high-leverage moments throughout his career, though he has accumulated just two hits in 25 at-bats over the past two division series — both of which ended in stunning elimination. This year, he believes, there’s a certain ease with which he navigates stressful situations. He trusts his preparation and lives with the results of it, sparing himself the second-guessing. It’s a shift.
“This is all definitely learned,” Betts said. “I used to be way more hard on myself. ‘I got to get ready for hitting second.’ ‘I got to get ready to play shortstop.’ ‘I got to do this.’ ‘I got to do that.'”
Perhaps it was a fear of failure. Perhaps, as Betts said, “It was not looking far enough through that fear to get to the other side.
“Now I’m a little older. Now I understand that whatever fears there are, man, I’m facing them dead-on.”
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Eli Lederman
USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.
Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.
Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).
The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.
Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.
Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.
Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.
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Max Olson
Missouri quarterback Drew Pyne has entered the portal as a graduate transfer, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
Pyne is looking to move to his fourth school after stints at Notre Dame, Arizona State and Missouri. He’ll be a sixth-year senior this fall.
Pyne joined Missouri last year as a backup for senior starter Brady Cook. He earned one start, leading the Tigers to a 30-23 comeback win over Oklahoma while Cook was sidelined by ankle and wrist injuries.
Missouri brought in former Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula via the transfer portal this offseason. He’ll compete with redshirt junior Sam Horn and true freshman Matt Zollers, the No. 86 overall recruit in the 2025 ESPN 300, for the opportunity to start this season.
Pyne, a former ESPN 300 recruit, began his career at Notre Dame and started 10 games for the Fighting Irish in 2022. He threw for 2,021 yards on 65% passing and scored 24 total touchdowns with six interceptions while winning eight of his starts.
After the Irish brought in grad transfer quarterback Sam Hartman, Pyne transferred to Arizona State but appeared in just two games with the Sun Devils before an injury forced him to sit out the rest of the season.
Pyne played 211 snaps over six appearances for the Tigers last season and threw for 391 yards on 60% passing with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
The NCAA’s spring transfer window opens April 16, but graduate transfers are permitted to put their name in the portal at any time. More than 160 FBS scholarship quarterbacks have already transferred this offseason.
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David Schoenfield
There are slow starts, there are slumps, and then there is whatever Rafael Devers is going through.
The 28-year-old three-time All-Star for the Boston Red Sox has been one of baseball’s best hitters since 2019, posting three 30-homer seasons, three 100-RBI seasons and a whole bunch of doubles.
His first five games of 2025 have been a nightmare. It’s the early-season equivalent of dealing Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Johnny Pesky holding the ball. Bucky Dent. The ball rolling through Bill Buckner’s legs. Aaron Boone. Just to name a few Red Sox references. Here’s how those games unfolded for Devers:
Game 1: 0-for-4, three strikeouts
Game 2: 0-for-4, four strikeouts
Game 3: 0-for-4, three strikeouts, walk, RBI
Game 4: 0-for-4, two strikeouts, walk
Game 5: 0-for-3, three strikeouts, two walks
Along the way, Devers became the first player to strike out 10 times in a team’s first three games of a season — and that’s not all.
He became the first player to strike out 12 times in a team’s first four games. And, yes, with 15 strikeouts through five games he shattered the old record of 13, shared by Pat Burrell in 2001 and Byron Buxton in 2017. Going back to the end of 2024, when Devers fanned 11 times over his final four games, he became the fourth player with multiple strikeouts in nine straight games — and one of those was a pitcher (the other two were a rookie named Aaron Judge in 2016 and Michael A. Taylor in 2021).
With Devers struggling, the Red Sox have likewise stumbled out of the gate, going 1-4 after some lofty preseason expectations, including an 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the home opener Monday. To be fair, it’s not all on Devers: Jarren Duran, Devers and Alex Bregman, the top three hitters in the lineup, are a combined 11-for-62 (.177) with no home runs.
But there is one question weighing heaviest on the minds of Red Sox Nation right now: What is really going on with Devers?
It’s easy to say his head simply isn’t in the right space. Devers made headlines early in spring training after the Red Sox signed Bregman, saying he didn’t want to move to DH and that “third base is my position.” He pointed out that when he signed his $331 million extension in January of 2023, the front office promised he would be the team’s third baseman.
That, however, was when a different regime was in charge. Bregman, a Gold Glove winner in 2024, is the better defensive third baseman, so it makes sense to play him there and move Devers — except many players don’t like to DH. Some analysts even build in a “DH penalty,” assuming a player will hit worse there than when he plays the field. While Devers eventually relented and said he’d do whatever will help the team, it was a rocky situation for a few weeks.
But maybe it’s something else. While Devers avoided surgery this offseason, he spent it trying to rebuild strength in both shoulders after dealing with soreness and inflammation throughout 2024. He didn’t play the field in spring training and had just 15 plate appearances. So maybe he is still rusty — or the shoulder(s) are bothering him.
Indeed, Statcast metrics show his average bat speed has dropped from 72.5 mph in 2024 to 70.3 mph so far in 2025 (and those are down from 73.4 mph in 2023). His “fast-swing rate” has dropped from 34.2% in 2023 to 27.9% to 12.2%. Obviously, we’re talking an extremely small sample size for this season, but it’s clear Devers isn’t generating the bat speed we’re used to seeing from him.
That, however, doesn’t explain the complete inability to make contact. Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after the series in Texas that Devers had made alterations with his foot placement — but was having trouble catching up to fastballs. Following Monday’s game, Devers told reporters (via his interpreter) that, “Obviously this is not a position that I’ve done in the past. So I need to get used to it. But I feel good, I feel good.”
Which leads to this question: Does this historic bad start mean anything? Since the DH began in 1973, three DHs began the season with a longer hitless streak than Devers’ 0-for-19 mark, so let’s dig into how the rest of their seasons played out:
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Don Baylor with the 1982 Angels (0-for-20). Baylor ended up with a pretty typical season for him: .263/.329/.424, 24 home runs.
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Evan Gattis of the 2015 Astros (0-for-23). Gattis hit .246 with 27 home runs — not as good as he hit in 2014 or 2016, but in line with his career numbers.
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Curtis Terry with the Rangers in 2021 (0-for-20). Terry was a rookie who ended up playing just 13 games in the majors.
Expanding beyond just the DH position, I searched Baseball-Reference for players in the wild-card era (since 1995) who started a season hitless in at least 20 plate appearances through five games. That gave us a list of … just seven players, including Evan Carter (0-for-22) and Anthony Rendon (0-for-20) last season. Both ended up with injury-plagued seasons. The list also includes Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who was 0-for-24 for the Houston Astros in 1995. He was fine: He hit .302/.406/.483 that season, made the All-Star team and finished 10th in the MVP voting. J.D. Drew started 0-for-25 through five games with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005; he hit .286/.412/.520, although an injury limited him to 72 games.
But none of those hitters struck out nearly as often as Devers has.
So let’s focus on the strikeouts and expand our search to most strikeouts through the 15 first games of a season. Given his already astronomical total, Devers is likely to rank high on such a list even if he starts making more contact. Seventeen players struck out at least 25 times through 15 games, topped by Yoan Moncada and Miguel Sano with 29, both in 2018. Not surprisingly, all these seasons have come since 2006 and 12 since 2018.
How did that group fare?
They were actually OK, averaging a .767 OPS and 20 home runs. The best of the group was Matt Olson in 2023, who struck out 25 times in 15 games, but was also hitting well with a .317/.423/.650 line. He went on to hit 53 home runs. The next best season belongs to Giancarlo Stanton in 2018, his first with the Yankees. He finished with 38 home runs and an .852 OPS — but that was a big drop from his MVP season in 2017, when he mashed 59 home runs. His strikeout rate increased from 23.6% in 2017 to 29.9% — and he’s never been as good.
Indeed, that’s the worrisome thing for Devers: Of the 16 players who played the season before (Trevor Story was a rookie in 2016 when he struck out 25 times in 15 games, albeit with eight home runs), 13 had a higher OPS the previous season, many significantly so.
As Cora argued Monday, it’s a small sample size. “You know, this happens in July or August, we’d not even be talking about it,” he said.
That doesn’t really sound quite forthright. A slump, even a five-game slump, with this many strikeouts would absolutely be a topic of discussion. Still, that’s all the Red Sox and Devers have to go on right now: It’s just a few games, nothing one big game won’t fix. They just hope it comes soon.
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