It has been quite some time since Mookie Betts produced at a consistent superstar level on offense for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and with that has come multiple instances of change in terms of his spot in the lineup.
In June, Betts posted a strong month as he hit .290/.339/.477 and seemed like he finally figured things out again. But that was short-lived as July has seen him significantly regress.
Over 12 games in the month, Betts was hitting just .140/.245/.186. A small sample size, to be sure, but also a concerning trend given how long his struggles have lasted and how short his successful streaks have been.
That prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to drop Betts to hitting fifth in the lineup on Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies, where he anticipates the 33-year-old to be for some time, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California New Group.
Betts has been moved down to fifth in the order and will probably stay there “for awhile.”
“I think right now I feel that I want to give Mookie a different look,” Roberts said.
“About a month ago, yeah, we all felt that he turned the corner and then the last couple weeks, few weeks, it just hasn’t been there.”
Betts responded well to being dropped in the lineup. He had his first four-hit game of the season while slugging two home runs in the Dodgers’ loss.
It was another encouraging sign that the ability is still in there for Betts, but as he’s often shown over the past two years, that success hasn’t been sustainable.
After Betts had his best month in June, he was asked if he’s back to being the hitter he once was. Betts declined to give a firm answer, given the other brief stints of production he’s found, but said he’s feeling more normal at the plate.
Since May 2024, when Betts first began to see a sharp decrease in his offense, the shortstop has been a league-average hitter, batting .254/.321/.421 with a 105 wRC+.
Those struggles have become more pronounced each season as he hit .258/.326/.406 with a 104 wRC+ last year, and this season he’s hitting .237/.300/.431 with a 98 wRC+.
Since the start of the 2024 season, Betts has only had two months with a wRC+ above 130: April 2024 and September 2025. From 2021 through 2023, 11 of the 18 total months saw Betts post a wRC+ of 130 or higher, and he was consistently above 115 when he failed to hit 130 in any given month.
Mookie Betts no longer changing routines?
Given his struggles, Betts was often changing his routine and trying to find new things that work for him. But as he was searching, he learned from Freddie Freeman, who is a model of consistency, not just on the field, but in his work and preparation.
Betts shared that Freeman doing the same routine every day, regardless of how he did on the field, inspired him to try to follow that mindset.
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