The Dodgers activated Mookie Betts on May 11, ending a little more than a month-long absence after the star shortstop recovered from a right oblique strain. Betts was expected to be back from the 10-day injured list on May 12, but the club moved a day sooner after two rehab games and a return to Los Angeles.
His return matters because this was not a minor stop on the way to a routine roster shuffle. Betts went on the injured list April 5 with 32 plate appearances and a 99 wRC+; before that, he had produced at least 31% better than league average by wRC+ in every season from 2019 through 2024 and won the AL MVP award with the Red Sox in 2018. Even after a down offensive year in 2025, when he hit.258/.326/.406 with a 104 wRC+ in 150 games, the Dodgers had built around a player who still mattered on both sides of the ball, especially after he helped them win their second consecutive World Series while handling shortstop.
The deeper context is that Betts had not looked like his old self at the plate last season. He batted.258 on balls in play, below a career BABIP of.299, and his 89.1 MPH average exit velocity and 35.8% hard-hit rate both pointed to a hitter whose results lagged behind the underlying contact. His batting average, slugging percentage and wOBA were all 9 to 16 points lower than expected. That slump, though, did not change the Dodgers’ plans for May 11, when they needed him back in the lineup and back at shortstop as they pushed forward in a division race they had continued to lead despite his absence.
Los Angeles had stayed afloat at 24-15 with Hyeseong Kim and Miguel Rojas covering shortstop while Betts was out. Kim hit.301/.366/.411 over 82 plate appearances this season, while Rojas shifted back to backup infield duty once Betts returned. The move also forced the Dodgers to sort through a second-base logjam involving Kim, Santiago Espinal and Alex Freeland. Kim and Freeland both had minor league options remaining, while Espinal’s.438 OPS over 34 plate appearances left him vulnerable to removal from the 26-man roster, a step that would have required a designation for assignment.
Instead, the club and Espinal renegotiated the 45-day deadline tied to the advanced consent clause in his contract, pushing that deadline forward and signaling, in the view of Katie Woo, that he would stay on the active roster. Freeland was ultimately optioned as the corresponding move when Betts was officially reinstated, matching an earlier report from Jack Harris of the California Post. For the Dodgers, the decision was less about sentiment than structure: Betts is back at shortstop, Rojas is back in reserve, and the rest of the infield now has to fit around that reality.
For more on the roster move, see Dodgers Game Today: Mookie Betts reinstated as Alex Freeland is sent down. A separate look at the matchup with San Francisco is available in Trevor Mcdonald: Dodgers bring Mookie Betts back as Giants theory gets tested.
