Mookie Betts’ return to the Los Angeles Dodgers could come as soon as Monday, a league source told The Athletic, just more than four weeks after the shortstop and former MVP strained his oblique.
Betts faced live pitching at Dodger Stadium on Thursday for the first time since injuring himself running the bases against the Washington Nationals on April 4. The Dodgers’ Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliate announced shortly thereafter that Betts would join their team for a rehab assignment on Friday and Saturday.
The plan, the source said, is for Betts to travel back to Los Angeles on Sunday, when the organization will evaluate his status before a potential activation on Monday against the San Francisco Giants.
Betts said last week he feels he “turned a corner” with his rehab from his oblique. In the ensuing days, the 33-year-old has ramped up his activity and started the clock on one of several roster decisions for the two-time reigning World Series champions in the coming weeks.
“There’s no magic formula to this,” Betts said last week. “You can do as much rehab and stuff as you want. Things just take time. It’s always four to six weeks no matter however you want to twist it. I think we’re kind of approaching the four-week mark, so once I get to that point is when I’ll really turn the corner the most. So close.”
Betts is looking for a bounce-back season. His .732 OPS last season marked a career-low, and the seven-time Silver Slugger spent much of the winter and spring trying both to regain strength after dealing with a gnarly stomach virus in 2025 and to restore some of his declining bat speed.
He showed some signs of progress during the season’s opening week, hitting a pair of home runs. Betts also hit .179 in those eight games before the injury.
Betts’ impending return could reignite the most intriguing position battle of the Dodgers’ spring. Alex Freeland won a spot on the Opening Day roster over Hyeseong Kim to fill the left-handed hitting side of a second-base platoon, with the Dodgers citing Freeland’s underlying approach metrics as the impetus behind the decision.
The Dodgers recalled Kim from the minors when Betts was injured. In Betts’ absence, Freeland has started all but five games at second base, with Kim and Miguel Rojas largely platooning at Betts’ shortstop position.
Kim, whom the Dodgers signed to a three-year, $12.5 million contract ahead of the 2025 season, has been more productive than the former top prospect Freeland.
Kim has hit .314 with an .800 OPS through his first 78 plate appearances while dropping his chase rates and improving his contact rates from his rookie season, showing the kind of progress the organization was looking for.
Freeland has shown improvement of late, but has put up a .693 OPS through 105 plate appearances with underlying numbers that look a lot like the ones he put up in his first taste of the majors last year.
There is also Santiago Espinal, who surprisingly made the Dodgers out of spring training after signing a minor-league deal and has taken just 29 plate appearances through the team’s first 37 games. He was put on the roster largely to give the team some right-handed hitting infield coverage until Kiké Hernández comes back; it was interesting, at least, to see the switch-hitting Freeland take some extra ground balls at third base while the Dodgers were in Houston this week.
Betts’ return signals the first of several dominoes to fall in the next few weeks. Hernández has also started a rehab assignment with Oklahoma City. He is eligible to come back on May 24 (and has pointed to May 25 as a desired return date) after starting the season on the 60-day injured list and undergoing offseason left elbow surgery. Tommy Edman’s return has seemingly been pushed back this week, with manager Dave Roberts saying he is on a “slow program” while still dealing with soreness in his surgically-repaired right ankle.
