Betts' glove work involves plenty of preparation
LOS ANGELES ❯❯ The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles on the final day of the 2006 regular season. It was a fairly meaningless 9-0 win, save for the fact that Dustin Pedroia started the game at second base. The next 1,463 starts of Pedroia's career, with the exception of a handful at DH, would also come at second base. Only 40 men in baseball history were penciled into the lineup as a second baseman more often.
The effect of Pedroia's permanence was handed down to the Dodgers' primary right fielder, Mookie Betts. The Red Sox drafted Betts as a second baseman in the fifth round of the 2011 draft. Because of Pedroia, Betts made the switch to the outfield as a 21-year-old in Triple-A. The rest is history: Betts has since won six Gold Glove awards as a right fielder, and he might add another in November.
That will be difficult. The story of Betts' 2023 season is one of positional versatility. He's started 62 games at second base and another 12 at shortstop, where injuries and ineffectiveness robbed the Dodgers of their projected Opening Day middle infield.
Betts has performed more than admirably in his spot starts. The positive effect of his versatility on a 100-win Dodger team forms the crux of Betts' case for the National League MVP award.
Betts has spoken often of his fondness for playing the infield. After all, his original move to the outfield was one of necessity, not personal choice.
“Summer ball, Little League, high school — that's what I did: I was a utility player that could hit,” he told the Southern California News Group in July. “Nothing's really changed.”
More than his own words, the best testament to Betts' affinity for the infield might be his gloves. He's kept an infielder's glove with him every year of his professional career, whether he's played there or not.
For one man, that means a little more work — and a little more pride in Betts' awardwinning defense.
“Mookie's such a good player, an outfielder and an infielder as well,” said Shigeaki Aso, the resident “Glove Guru” for the Wilson Sporting Goods Company. “I'd love to have him win a Gold Glove.”
Every year, before each season begins, Aso designs the 11 1/2-inch infielder's glove and the 12 1/2-inch outfielder's glove in Betts' locker. Every year he heats three cups of water to 150170 degrees Fahrenheit, and pours it over each glove to make the pocket deeper. Every year Aso grabs a wooden mallet and bangs the pocket of each glove for 30 minutes, lets them dry overnight, and pounds them for another 30 minutes the next morning.
It is a labor of love Aso has perfected over the last 40 years — the last 24 in Chicago, where Wilson is headquartered.
“That's why my forearm is so thick,” Aso said. “I don't exercise, but that is my exercise.”
Besides the length of each glove, their materials differ as well. Betts wears a SuperSkin synthetic leather glove in the outfield, which Wilson claims is twice as durable but half as light as the all-leather material that comprises Betts' infield glove.
Listed at 5-foot-9, Betts is on the smaller side for a Major League Baseball player. So are his gloves. Aso said Pedroia, also 5-9, coincidentally wore the same size glove when he was a Wilson client.
One key difference: Pedroia famously used only two gloves his entire career. (So has Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, at least so far.) Aso sends Betts a new pair of Wilson A2K gloves every year. Why?
“Because he likes the style,” Wilson spokesman Rick Redman said. “Mookie's a trendsetter so he can't just roll (one glove) out there every year.”
MLB places limits on the colors and patterns a fielder can display on his glove. Betts works within those limits to personalize his design every year, Wilson said. But he only rarely modifies the length, the weight, the curvature, and the fit.
“I really let them do it,” Betts said Wednesday.