At the Dodgers annual children’s holiday party last week, Matt Beaty spent some time with the media to chat about his off-season and what he’s working on for the 2020 campaign.
Right off the bat, “Baters Taters” is working out at Dodger Stadium as a member of the big club. With that has come added opportunity as he focuses on his role for next season.
This year I had the opportunity to stay out here — I’m working out at the stadium and working with our strength and conditioning coaches B Mac [Brandon McDaniel] and Travis [Smith] and, I mean, just coming in to the stadium — getting ground balls and fly balls at Dodger Stadium…it’s a lot better than working out at a lot of the places that I’ve worked out at in the past.
After unexpectedly starting 21 games at first base, 7 at third, and 26 in the outfield in his rookie campaign, the 26 year-old is expecting to remain as “flexible as possible” as he continues his utility role in 2020.
With his time spent at Dodger Stadium in the off-season for the first time, Beaty is able to focus on refining some points of his game.
Working on lateral movement… I want to work on being more productive against left handed pitching — and just being faster… you’re always trying to fine tune your game, fine tune your skills and be the best player that you can be and I think the Dodgers are really good at finding your deficiencies and what you need to work on the most.
Focusing in on the batting against left-handed pitching, after raking to the tune of a .322 batting average against LHPs in the minor leagues over his first three professional seasons, Beaty uncharacteristically struggled against southpaws in 2018 and carried that to the big leagues in 2019.
If the left-handed batter can minimize his dramatic splits (.286 vs RHPs, .125 vs LHPs) in 2020, he’s sure to find more playing time in manager Dave Roberts’ lineup.
NEXT: Get to Know Matt and Jesica Beaty on Our Podcast
