Mookie Betts has been relatively healthy in his third season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the exception of a three-week stint on the injured list due to a fractured right rib.
Upon returning, Betts was eased back into the lineup by playing second base. The six-time All-Star came up with the Boston Red Sox as a second baseman but has since developed into arguably the best defensive right fielder in baseball.
Betts has played second base six times this season, four of which were starts. “Being able to play second base is kind of something I’ve been doing my whole life,” Betts said.
“Getting to go back there’s just a lot of fun for me personally. I really, really do enjoy it, but they pay me to catch these fly balls.”
Betts is in the midst of another MVP-caliber season, batting .280/.348/.563 with 32 doubles, a career-high 33 home runs, 74 RBI, 12 stolen bases and a National League-high 105 runs across 118 games.
“I don’t think so,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts answered when asked if Betts is getting the attention he deserves from the rest of the league. “I think a little bit of it is because Mookie looks like all of us. Not very physical, he just looks normal as far as the body.
“But as far as the skillset, it’s certainly supernatural. His ability to come in there on the dirt and make a dazzling play pretty easy, and then to be able to kick back to the outfield and be the best right fielder in baseball.
“So to be able to do that and do what he does in the batter’s box, it’s a pretty amazing season. It really is.
“I don’t know all the statistics, but the runs created, the runs saved, and what he does on both sides of the baseball and the bases, he’s in a small group of elite players.”
Betts doesn’t care about new career high in home runs
While Betts has already set a new career high in home runs this season, he isn’t putting too much stock into the accomplishment. “It doesn’t matter at all,” Betts recently said.
“I don’t care about it. It is what it is. Like I said, I always just do whatever I can to help us win.”
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