Dodgers turned Kenley from a catcher to their closer. Nothing new for the guys in blue.

For the last week before every game Miguel has been working with Mookie on SS for around 200 ground balls a day before the game statrts. It shows a lot about the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are a Baseball team.

I played against Mookie growing up and in high school. I can assure he was an elite shortstop in high school so it’s no surprise he transitioned back to infield seemlessly. Excellent range with a great arm. Love the video!

Mookie has 3 300s in bowling, has won 2 World Series with 2 different teams. This guy is a winner period! Great move!

It’s a shame you didn’t mention Daulton Varsho who went from being an average defensive catcher to one of the best centerfield defenders in the sport

Can’t wait until shohei moves to 2nd next year

Did you know - Padres GM AJ Preller believes in one major thing: Shortstops are the best athletes on the field, and so can transition to any other position. Preller takes that to the extreme. Machado originally was a Shortstop who moved to 3rd. Tatis originally was a Shortstop who moved to RF. Cronenworth originally was a Shortstop who moved to 2nd and eventually moved to 1st. Bogarts for a good amount of his career was a Shortstop before being moved back to 2nd this year. Kim originally is a Shortstop who was transitioned to 2nd for a time before going back to SS. Merrill, their soon-to-be Star Rookie, originally was a Shortstop all his life and transitioned to LF for 2 games in Spring Training this year before moving to CF where he made the team and is thriving so far this year. The Padres have 6 players in their everyday lineup that can play Shortstop, and could’ve had more since CJ Abrams was traded in the Soto trade to Washington- he’s a Shortstop who played some CF for the Padres. And who knows what Preller might be hiding down in the Padres Farm System that they can plug from the SS position.

Position still important. Only key here is Mookie is a genius

This is the first time I have enjoyed hearing anything about analytics. Admittedly, I don't understand all the various stats, and I hate the idea of viewing a walk as a reward for the batter rather a penalty for the pitcher, but if this is how analytics can be used to deepen the game within in the game while keeping the simplicity and surface level fun digestible, then that is really cool

That Castellanos defensive shift stat was incredible. You earned an insta-sub from me for that one

As a dad worrying about where my son is put season in. Season out. Yall are right. Just make sure he’s on field. Make sure he can bat. 🦇 thanks.

0:37 I love the blue grid transition screen. It reminds me of the 90s. Like the Home Improvement intro or something 😆

Robin Yount won MVP at both shortstop and centerfield.

phenomenal video man !!!

all sports have evolved. Positions are getting less specialized since players are getting more skillful at their crafts, we see this in basketball and football also. Running backs who can catch, quarterbacks who can run, recievers who can block.

Good content keep it up!

It always sounds like he’s asking a question

I will consider subbing that was a great vid

Great video bro

Yea! Defense only matter when you are in the playoffs and the good teams expose your week defense. I keep seeing videos say defense doesnt matter. Yea defense doesnt matter until it does. Be careful what you wish for. The ball may get hit right to Betts in the world series and those are usually the moments we find out if this plan really works.

First time watching one of your videos. Very impressive, and I agree!

Listening to this video of all of these seemingly hairbrained ideas work our just makes me cry in the corner as a SF Giants fan who has seen these types of moves blow up in our teams face ever since 2021 ended.

AWESOME KIM

Casual fans love HRs and hard throwing pitcher. The result was MLB focusing on big strong guys who hit the Baseball +400’ but have suffer a huge disparity in K to BB ratio. And, more guys than ever are throwing +95 mph on the bump. Well, more pitchers are suffering career altering or career ending injuries. Personally, I’d love to see the game go back to highly athletic and skilled players. It’s cool to see big guys hit +400’ bombs or throw +95 mph, but I’d rather see more skilled guys play smart high-level baseball.

Your my new favorite baseball KZfaqr😂

This didn't age well. Outman has been sent to the minors and rookie Pages, (Pie es), has taken his place in center. Muncie has kicked more balls than he has caught at third base.

The average athleticism at the mlb level has exploded in the last 20-30 years, it's no surprise to me that a lot of these guys could play decent defense just about anywhere on the field. We're also in a golden era of analytics that makes it a lot easier to coach a guy who has good baseball instincts into learning and succeeding at a new position. Mookie is almost a bad example because he's an outlier as one of the best players of the current era and a guy most would consider an easy HOF bet even if he fell off now

Max Scherzer playing CF is going to be wild

We’ll see in the playoffs. Pitching & defense will always reveal itself when it matters most

The "fuzzys friend" under Brysons name got a chuckle from me lol fuzzy always saying my friend is pretty funny too.

I thought back in the day the Pirates should have retained Neil Walker and move him to 1b.

Cabrera started put as a third baseman. Positions do matter, but the bat can outweigh the negatives.

mookie is also a freak of nature

So after 100 years they found out that you better put your best players on the grass? That is why those managers earn the big bucks!

A star player changing positions is hardly new. Pete Rose switched from 2B to OF to 3B to 1B and was an allstar at each.

Bryson Scott fuzzy friend lol😂

Thanks for using Defensive Runs Saved (the stat invented by my employer, Sports Info Solutions)

The past tense of cost is cost.

If players can play more than one position, the manager has more flexibility bringing subs for injuries or pinch hitting.

I find it hard to believe that the best possible fielder hasn’t always been recognized as the best possible fielder. The fact we just move catchers to 1st base kind of exposed this years ago.

Did you mention that when Betts was a kid, his uncle Terry Shumpert, trained Betts all the posistions, because Shumpert was a utility player and played many positions-- so no, not a problem playing all positions for Betts, since he was taught by a journeyman former utility major leaguer, that's about what it takes to get to the majors, quite an advantage, you do have to learn that when your young, because it's not easy.

Its funny how you said in the thumbnail positions dont matter and then the whole video was about how they do Really good video overall though

My Atlanta Braves were doing this sort of thing 20 years ago… I know you remember Chipper Jones, not to mention Smoltz after Tommy John surgery. Just sayin 😎

Deceptive title. Positions absolutely do matter. They're defined, and certain positions matter significantly more than others. Those positions like catcher, SS, 2b, and CF almost always have the best athletes on the team. Mookie fits right into that mold. You cannot put someone like Marcell Ozuna, for example, in center and say his positioning doesn't matter. You're going to get a lot of flack for your title and it will be deserved

Man as a Red Sox fan this really hurts…we could really use a shortstop…

Yordan Alvarez to first base?

Bro you didn't even comment on the 2005 Astros when they had Jeff Kent and moved Biggio to the outfield. Sheesh

Mookie is honestly the best athlete in mlb so him playing short doesn't mean nothing.

Mookie is a unicorn

Love or hate it but the 3 true outcome is the philosophy of baseball right now. Adapt or die

Your wrong!!! Mookie is that special, he already played multiple positions throughout his career

That’s how baseball is if you can hit they’ll find a way to put you in the lineup to all the kids out there yes defense is cool and flashy but hitting and your bat gonna make you millions just look at shohei othani rn as the DH

Imo the music in the back either need to be turned up or turned off

Anyone can play in any position but CF and SS. Only great athletes can play SS and CF as well as any other position.

Some of these guys are freak, freak athletes. Mookie is not a good example. He’s a freak of nature.

Fun fact: Chris Taylor is 1 for 35. 🥳 😖🤦‍♂️ And … Max Muncy commits more run-scoring errors than any corner player I’ve seen since Casey Blake. I’m not a stat guy, so only speaking as a fan who watches every Dodger game (& recaps on all t’others). 🥴

And this, my friends, is why defense is abismal in MLB.

2:55 or you put him in left field🤣🤣 cause if it’s to his left it’s foul

You have the same speaking cadence as mark zuckerberg

What is the argument here? That positions don’t matter? Not only do I highly disagree, but your examples were not even supportive of that argument. Sure, an MLB player can probably play any position because of their aptitude. They’re professionals after all. They may not be a Gold Glove winner at it, but they can play it. Typically, outfielders can be interchanged with outfielders and Infielders can be interchanged with infielders. The mechanics the same, it’s just a matter of the specific nuances. A lot of them tend to have secondary positions in their field (and sometimes out of their field). Even if it’s not their secondary, they can play it fairly easy. A great example of this is Bobby Dalbec on the Red Sox. Drafted as a Third Baseman, mostly plays Third Base, Secondary Position is First Base, but the Red Sox moved him over to Shortstop in a game in a pinch and the game went on as normal. Played like he belonged there. Mookie was drafted as an infielder. Second Baseman to be specific. So playing the infield isn’t new to him. It’s not like he was a Catcher that got thrown out to Shortstop. Bryce Harper to first is another terrible example. I’m not saying playing First Base is easy, but like you said, they moved Cabrera over to Third because Fielder couldn’t play anything except First….that says a lot. First Base is just one of those positions that requires very little athleticism to play 99% of the time. You could put a person from the crowd at First Base if you needed to. We can start making this argument when like they put Lance Lynn at Third Base or something. Not an infielder playing the infield.

Mookie works before games taking ground balls for years. All Dodgers work. Other teams not so much. When your 300 milli players are grinding, everyone puts in more.

And every line? Is read as a question?

There is nothing new under the sun. Been there, done that.

Mookie is a team player. Gotta love it. He's also unbelievably talented. Also hats off to Bryce Harper who is a real trooper. He's not the same snot nose he was when eh was younger. He's grown into a great leader and a warrior.

tl;dw - Mookie Betts is a pretty good shortstop

Mookie going to SS isnt as big a deal as you think. He came up as a 2B, so they stuck him in the OF.. so going to SS from an original 2B aint a big deal muhthafucka. And tbh swapping inf positions isnt as hard as the announcers and show hosts say. I've done it plenty and as a lefty...

Betts has played a ton of 2b

Seems like there's a common theme here. 99% of the MLB is made up of incredible athletes. Incredible athletes can play any position, because the main prerequisite to playing good defense at any position is athleticism. I see this every weekend in youth baseball. If a kid can play SS or 2B, he can play anywhere. If the kid can only play 1st or RF, he can't just play anywhere.

MLB teams out here playing like its diamond dynasty

If you’re a Baseball purist this is just sacrilege. Analytics are fine for the long haul regular season but come the playoffs they suck. The Dodgers, the Phillies and the Braves are perfect examples of how little assurance you have of winning a short series with a team that is built on analytics. The Astros have done well ith it but it has bitten even them the past couple seasons. Not to mention, it’s just not as fun to watch. I don’t want my teams lead off Guy to be a 3 true outcome .198 hitter. I wanna know who my Shortstop is gonna be every game. There are positive aspects of Analytics but boy are they just fucking boring.

It's 'cost' not 'costed'. 'costed' is used when assigning prices (or not) for inventory accounting.

This isn't a new phenomenon you know?

Mooooooooooooook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait… mookies already 31. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Positions don't matter... as long as you have average athletes on your team

Either BDE copied your video or you copied his bruh. Nearly same stuff said, exact same clips and graphics

“But I’ve never played 1st base..”. It’s not that hard ( Billy Bean). “it’s incredibly hard” ( the scout) This is the worst take I’ve ever heard in my entire life. What a maroon 😂

Damn, are analytics guys back to claiming defense doesn’t matter? Thought that was finally debunked. Defense matters, so positions matter. Mookie is, like Shohei, a unicorn. MLB players are not, as a general rule, able to move from years of gold glove play in RF to playing SS for the first time in their 30s. It’s not representative of what matters in baseball today. And, if Mookie ends up failing at the position, trust that they’ll move him asap rather than pretend baseball is now position-less.

This is not a new concept, see Honus Wagner or Jimmie Foxx to start

0:18- as a Braves fan that hurt… good thing that 2020 ring doesn’t count (I would have counted it if the Braves won)

I SEE SMITH MOVING TO THIRD AND MAKE ROOM FOR ONE OF THE YOUNG TALENTS THAT CAN HIT AND ACTUALLY CATCH DEFENSIVELY AT FUNDAMENTALLY HIGHER LEVEL THAN SMITH.

Yeah,position dont matter. Until someone commits 3 errors in a game (or a series). Then it might matter.

1:22 i would expect someone with an "analytics" channel to understand how statistics work. the "average" is the total over number of instances. "zero" does not men you are "average" unless you add up all the defensive runs saved does not mean one is an "average player" unless you total up all of the players DRS and divide it by the number of players and that number is zero. it might mean something else, like this break even DRS is what we'd like as a minimum. please learn his statistics work before you talk about them and spread math illiteracy.

lol “costed his team” it’s cost bro just cost

There is nothing new here. Mauer, Biggio, Chipper, Erstad, and even some guy named Ernie Banks. Look them up.

although i disagree… i still liked your video … Dodgers don’t value Defense .. They are analytically Driven and rely that PRS stat …Having players play their home position still reigns King ..

I see ZERO championships in all these highlights.

You are talking about .01% of baseball players....there only a few people in the world that can do this in Baseball....this is not a normal thing. Mookie is not a normal Baseball player....or Human.

way too much emphasis on hitting in baseball. it is part of the reason why I don't go to mlb games anymore. They are boring. I just bought season tickets to a minor league team.

Stop ending your sentences in question marks or with your voice going up. You'll narorate so much better if you speak with authority and end your sentences down and grounded

this is nothing new

Mookie arm needs to be in outfield throwing out runners. Fire Dave Roberts

Baseball isn't even baseball anymore. What they are doing now is unwatchable. I stopped watching years ago when Joe Maddon, the shift and analytics ruined the game.

mlb the show doesnt think mookie is an elite athlete with like 51 speed.. judge has like 45 speed, soto has like 54 speed.. makes no sense.. None are super fast but none are that slow.

Hahahahahahaha Dude, your narratives are insane........Fernando Tatis only became a good outfielder because he was a TERRIBLE shortstop. But nice attempt at spin. Elite bats have always been stuck at a position they weren't all that great at......this is the norm.......quit acting like putting subpar defenders at a position is revolutionary. Not all elite bats offer subpar defensive skills but most do. That's why Ronald Acuna, Mike Trout, and Bobby Witt were and are special. Mookie Betts is obviously special, a future hall of famer even. But he is not a good shortstop by any means. He is currently in the negatives of defensive runs above average.....the rating you would want to compare shortstops against shortstops and not shortstops to right fielders......of course a shortstop is going to be more valueable than a right fielder. And oh ya, made another error today and a dropped the ball on trying to turn a double play. A stat that will definitely be a negative because while not an error technically, most players would've turned a double play there. He is currently ranked 23 among shortstops.....and that's without the error and the muffed double play......like I said your narratives are insane......and a month of analytics would tell you you were overzealous in your analysis, hahaha. He was a much better outfielder than he is a shortstop. You're trying to dress up old strategy as analytics and game theory and it's really lame.

You talk like Forrest, Forrest Gump.

It's Mookie Betts, not Kyle Schwarblunder. Mookie could probably play any position, even catcher, and probably even make a half-ass decent bullpen pitcher.