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Dodgers’ spring leadership question has faded away

April 13, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers have answered their leadership question – by not even asking it.

With Justin Turner departed for Boston, a popular question this spring centered on who would fill his leadership role in the Dodgers clubhouse. Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that it was an issue on his mind as spring camp opened and that he might give “an easy nudging” to Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to step forward and take greater leadership roles than they had in the past.

But once Roberts saw the dynamics of a clubhouse featuring veteran additions Jason Heyward, J.D. Martinez and David Peralta, he decided that wasn’t necessary.

“Once I got a chance to get to spring and see our guys together, I didn’t have that conversation. And I don’t think I needed to or still need to,” Roberts said. “I just felt that with the guys we brought in and seeing them assimilate I just feel that we have enough guys doing and saying the right thing. … To have Freddie and Mookie do something more than they’ve already done in the past, I just didn’t think it was necessary.”

Freeman did take the lead in organizing a team dinner when the Dodgers traveled to Arizona last week for the first road trip of the season and is mulling over arranging something on the day off between series in Chicago and Pittsburgh later this month.

“I’ve never been one to say, ‘You’re going to be a leader. I’m going to be a leader.’ That doesn’t make sense to me,” Freeman said. “I think it just naturally happens.”

Freeman said he has seen Betts taking more of a leadership role in his own way, particularly speaking up during hitters’ meetings and offering positive support.

“Yeah. I think if you talk to anybody in this organization, Mookie has taken that step which is awesome,” Freeman said. “I mean, he’s a superstar – not just in baseball, in every sport in this world, he can do it all. He’s a special person. He cares.

“He’s comfortable now. In life, it’s comfort. Once you get comfortable, you’re still the same person but you can do more. Mookie’s comfortable now.”

Betts shrugged off any suggestion that he has become more vocal – or that a new leader had to be identified.

“Nobody pays attention to who the leader is. We’re just playing,” Betts said. “I feel like me and Freddie aren’t very vocal leaders. We’re not top-step, screaming and cheering. We lead by example. We play the game hard, we play the game the right way, we play every day. That’s who we are. You can’t tell somebody to be rah-rah if that’s not who they are.

“Maybe (I’m speaking up more). It’s not on purpose, I will say that. It just kind of happens. My wife always tells me I’m just a leader and I don’t really realize it.”

WALK THIS WAY

The Dodgers went into Wednesday’s game leading the majors in walks drawn (65). They led the National League and finished second in the majors in walks each of the past two seasons.

But this year’s total is notable for the contributions of rookies Miguel Vargas and James Outman. Those two have combined to draw 21 of the walks, with Vargas (12) entering Wednesday tied with New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo for the major-league lead.

“For me, just Vargas and Outman, to be able to take walks and have good at-bats, I think in some ironic way it’s kind of incentivizing the veteran players to have those same type of at-bats and take walks when they’re presented,” Roberts said.

So far this season, both Vargas and Outman have shown higher walk rates in the majors than they did during their minor-league careers.

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“It’s very positive that they’ve taken the free passes,” Roberts said. “That’s really good because guys always want to swing the bat, to get knocks. But to have the discipline to not chase, it shows a lot of maturity, which is something we bet on coming into the season.

“They’re both smart guys. I say that because when you’re a smart player you know that if you swing out of the strike zone you’re not going to have success. … Sometimes you have to take the walk instead of the 0 for 1. Those guys just really get it and understand that.”

UP NEXT

The Dodgers are off Thursday.

Cubs (LHP Justin Steele 1-0, 0.75 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Noah Syndergaard, 0-1, 6.30 ERA), Friday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ spring leadership question has faded away

WALK THIS WAY

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