The Los Angeles Dodgers secured a series win over the Kansas City Royals on Father’s Day, but the mood was dampened by Mookie Betts suffering a fracture in his left hand after being hit by a pitch.
Betts’ injury is not considered season-ending but the team will know more after he meets with hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin of the Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center in Los Angeles on Monday.
With Betts expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Dodgers will rely on Miguel Rojas and Kiké Hernández to fill in at shortstop.
“Miguel is going to take down the brunt of shortstop,” manager Dave Roberts explained. “Then we’ll mix in Kiké at times to manage the workload a little bit.”
Rojas has played in 42 games this season (30 starts), seeing most of his time at shortstop, as well as second base and third base.
While Rojas has appeared at shortstop in only 23 games this season, he was the Dodgers’ primary starter at the position last year. He also served as the Miami Marlins starting shortstop for parts of eight seasons.
Hernández has seen time at five different positions this season, but shortstop is not one of them. He has 174 career appearances at the position over his big league career, with 64 coming during the 2023 season as a member of the Boston Red Sox and Dodgers.
Miguel Vargas replacing Mookie Betts
When the Dodgers officially place Betts on the 10-day injured list, Miguel Vargas is expected to rejoin the team as the corresponding move. “The plan is to bring Vargas. Vargas will play left field versus left-handed pitching,” Roberts noted.
The 24-year-old was sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City last week in order to add Cavan Biggio to the Dodgers active roster.
Vargas is hitting .250/.304/.550 with three doubles, one home run and four RBI in eight games at the big league level this season.
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