Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) makes an out during the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 30. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Dodgers' Mookie Betts Wins Surprising Award

Originally posted on Los Angeles Dodgers on SI
By J.P. Hoornstra | Last updated Sep 3, 2025 10:59 AM ET

Anyone who's watched Mookie Betts field a ball at shortstop in 2025 knows he is a far better defensive player at the position than he was in 2024, when he took over the everyday job at the last minute in spring training. Betts had played 16 games at shortstop before last year.

The transition to shortstop from right field defies the typical pattern. Betts' age (32) is a time when players move off, not on, to a demanding defensive position.

Yet Betts has thrived at shortstop in 2025. Appreciating just how far he's come since last year is difficult when watching only a single game, in which he might not get many chances in the field. But in the aggregate, a shortstop gets enough work to lend credence to any comparison.

In August, Betts was the best defensive shortstop in baseball.

Betts was chosen as one of four Defensive Players of the Month — and the only shortstop among the four — by Sports Info Solutions on Tuesday. It's perhaps surprising to see a 32-year-old in his first season at shortstop excelling to that degree, but less so to anyone who's watched him in the field on a daily basis this season.

"Mookie Betts won for the second time in three months and it was well-earned. His 9 Runs Saved led not only shortstops but all positions for August. Take a look at this play against Ke’Bryan Hayes, this one against Xander Bogaerts and this one against Manny Machado," writes SIS's Mark Simon.

Remarkably, writes Simon, Betts has a "legitimate" chance to win a Fielding Bible Award — his seventh overall and his first as an infielder.

Betts is already tied with former St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina for the most-ever Fielding Bible Awards, which were introduced in 2006. He has 16 Runs Saved this season, 1 shy of Taylor Walls for the MLB lead at shortstop (and 1 more than former Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager).

Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes revealed at last year's Winter Meetings that Betts was moving back to shortstop in 2025 after finishing the 2024 season in right field, where he's won six Gold Glove Awards.

At that point, Betts had already begun preparing for his move back to the infield.

“I started in November about two weeks after the (2024) season and I haven’t stopped,” Betts said via the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett earlier this year. “I truly believe in my work, and I’m giving it my all so I can lay my head down at night knowing that my work prepared me for any ball that comes my way.”