After going hitless during the 2023 MLB postseason, Mookie Betts vowed to come back stronger if the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to October baseball this year.
The eight-time All-Star got off to another slow start and began taking hundreds of swings each day in effort to emerge from the slump.
The routine, along with a new approach that Kiké Hernández is a proponent of, helped Betts get back on track as he had back-to-back games with a home during the National League Division Series.
Betts went on to record three RBI in the Dodgers’ NL Championship Series Game 1 win over the New York Mets. He revealed that he has stuck to the same routine that he has kept this entire postseason.
“Just the same thing. Probably for the whole playoffs, I’ve probably been taking couple hundred swings a day. Did it again [Tuesday] and I’ll go do it again today,” Betts said.
“Probably taking way too many, but I’d rather do that. Really, it’s just being good with my plan and getting some good swings off. But it’s going to take all of us, and hopefully I can get up in a spot and help us win.”
Betts admitted that he is likely taking too many swings but feels he needs to do it at a crucial time in the year. “I never do it during the season. It’s really not sustainable,” he began.
“I’m surprised I haven’t broke down, but I do a really good job in taking care of my body. Especially in a time like now, there’s not very many tomorrows. They run out pretty quick. So I’m really just trying to do what I can to help us, and the last thing I want to do is not give it 100, 110%.
“It’s not something that I want to do. I don’t want to go in there and hit all day. But it’s something that, based off of my play, I need to do.”
Mookie Betts hopes ‘something sticks’ with swings
When asked if he is looking for a feel or trying to fix his mechanics with the practice swings, Betts said he hopes to achieve at least one of them. “I think that’s the point of the 500 swings, is because I don’t know,” noted.
“I’m trying to figure out which one it is and hopefully something sticks. You’re not going to find it not hitting. I’ve got to look for it somehow in those couple hundred. It will be in there.”
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