Mookie Betts has been a perennial MVP candidate throughout his career and saw his offense improve even more after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But in 2025, Betts has the second-lowest on-base plus slugging percentage (.722) in the Dodgers lineup among their qualified hitters, only ahead of Michael Conforto and trailing six other players.
The steep decline in offense is a concern as Betts has already taken 322 plate appearances, which is no small sample.
Some have correlated the offensive decline to his move to shortstop, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts does not believe that’s the case, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I’m gonna hold to no,” Roberts said. “I think it’s a fair debate. But all I can go with is what Mookie is saying, as far as the separation of the hitting to the defense, the comfort level with the defense. There’s no anxiety. The confidence he has with the defense. And where he is stronger than he has been in quite some time, as far as physicalness, healthy.
“So I don’t think there’s a correlation.”
Betts has dealt with numerous health issues over the past two seasons, suffering a fractured left hand last June, a serious stomach illness at the start of this year, and then a fractured toe in May.
Betts believes those health issues are more to blame for his offensive struggles than playing shortstop:
“It’s been really tough. But it kind of is what it is,” he said after going 2 for 5 on Tuesday night. “I’ve never played short every day, but I don’t think that’s really playing a part. Being sick and just kind of playing catchup – there’s a lot of variables that go into it, but you got to figure it out.”
Betts began last season as the starting Dodgers shortstop, and in that stretch looked like an MVP candidate as he hit .308/.407/.500 in 64 games there. Betts also spent most of his time working on defense to learn the position before games, far more than he has needed to this season.
But upon his return after the hand injury while playing right field, Betts hit just .273/.324/.516, a drop of about .070 points in OPS, in 43 games.
This season while back at shortstop, Betts is hitting .253/.333/.388. Considering how well he hit at shortstop in 2024 while focusing more on the position in a similar sample to this year, it’s hard to put blame on the position change.
What’s wrong with Mookie Betts?
Betts’ struggles are a much wider issue than just the injures and position change, and it signals he could be a declining player. After a hot start in April, Betts hit .253/.344/.380 until he suffered his hand injury, giving him a 109 wRC+, which is just slightly better than league average.
From May through the end of the 2024 season, Betts hit just .258/.329/.440 in a sample of 365 plate appearances. From May 1, 2024 to June 25, 2025, Betts batted .256/.331/.415 with a 109 wRC+ in a sample of nearly 700 plate appearances.
That is a very significant stretch of near-league average production, and a good indication that’s closer to the type of player he is moving forward, rather than the MVP player fans have come to expect.
That’s not to say Betts isn’t good. If he can remain around a 115 wRC+ while continuing to play stellar defense at shortstop, that still makes him a very valuable and All-Star caliber player. Just not one who will be in discussions among the best players in the league.
But Betts is 32 years old, and at just 5’10, 180 pounds, he doesn’t have the type of build that ages well for power production. That can be seen by his rapidly declining bat speed, which went from 71.3 mph in 2023 to 68.6 mph this year.
Each 1 mph of bat speed is worth about six feet of batted ball distance, so a drop of close to 3 mph is about 18 feet of hitting distance, a significant difference in many balls leaving the yard or being a routine fly out.
The decline in Betts’ bat speed also correlates with his drop in production, specifically in the power department last season. But even with his bat speed decline, Betts still has elite hand-eye coordination, which has prevented whiffs and allows him to square up the ball still, which bodes well for his production moving forward.
But the last few weeks have been especially subpar for Betts as he’s hitting .169/.258/.220 in his last 15 games, and .246/.313/.361 over the last 30. This is more likely to be a slump than anything, and he should get back to better than league average production at some point.
Moving forward, it’s safe to expect a player who will be around the .750 to .800 OPS mark with stellar defense at a premium position. That is a player who should be much appreciated, but also one who requires adjusted expectations from fans to fully appreciate the value he provides.
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