Much like his performance in June, Mookie Betts is enjoying another productive stretch at the plate over his last 15 games.
He homered twice in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sweep of the Kansas City Royals, while also hitting .294/.333/.471 over his last 51 at-bats.
Betts finally seeing results is not all that surprising when looking at his underlying stats, but it also does not automatically mean that he has broken out of his season-long slump.
If Betts has any chance of continuing to carry this momentum forward, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believes it will be because of the mental adjustments Betts has made recently.
“I think for me, it’s how he’s carrying himself. Obviously, the quality of contact is better, the angles, the part of the field, more on the pull side, he always has been good with not swinging at balls and swinging at strikes,” he said. “So those components have been consistent, but for me, I like the swagger and demeanor.”
The results in the scorebook do not accurately reflect Betts’ body of work this season. His slash line is indeed worse than in 2025, but his expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and average exit velocity have all greatly improved. And as Roberts mentioned, the 33-year-old’s chase, whiff and strikeout rate have been elite in 2026.
It is encouraging to see the 13-year veteran replicate his success from June and prove that it was not a fluke, but expectations must remain tempered. Betts and his teammates know that better than anyone.
He previously passed on an opportunity to declare himself as being back offensively during his first hot streak. Freddie Freeman was eager to praise Betts’ performance but stopped short of saying anything rash out of respect for the game and his teammate.
Betts has also taken his improved feeling into the batter’s box, and things are starting to feel “a little more normal.”
“I feel like I can get some good swings off now. Felt like the pitch selection has been pretty good,” Betts said on Wednesday. “Again, every time I’ve said it, it hasn’t been great after. But these three games have definitely been definitely confidence building.”
Mookie Betts playing like he “has something to prove”
Prior to the start of the season, Roberts said playing with a desire to put the 2025 struggles to bed would be one of the keys to an offensive resurgence for Betts.
Playing with an air of confidence seems to have made a significant difference for the shortstop as of late. Hopefully, he will be able to carry it forward with him through the end of the regular season and into October.
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