This continues to be a time of such wonderful expertise in baseball, all around the map. That is the time of Shohei Ohtani, the type of two-way expertise baseball hasn’t seen since Babe Ruth. It’s the time of Aaron Decide hitting extra house runs in a season for the Yankees than The Babe ever did. It’s the time of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto and Mike Trout and … nicely, you know the way for much longer the listing is than that. They’re all proper there for us, every single day.
And main off for the Dodgers and taking part in shortstop now’s Mookie Betts, anyone we don’t speak practically sufficient about as probably the greatest gamers ever, in any time.
Betts has been an ideal outfielder — and which means a very nice outfielder — in Boston and Los Angeles. He’s a former Most Beneficial Participant and two-time World Collection champ and what he has performed now, shifting from outfield to shortstop on the age of 31, is one thing no participant of his caliber has ever performed, actually not in mid-career.
“I really feel like that is uncharted territory,” Betts stated this week to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.
Then Betts added this: “I see myself as a extremely good athlete who can do something — particularly on the baseball area.”
Betts had performed some shortstop within the Purple Sox farm system, in Class A Brief Season Lowell, 12 years in the past. He turned a second baseman within the Minors after that, earlier than discovering a house in proper area at Fenway Park, on his approach to change into as good an all-around expertise because the Purple Sox has ever had, having his MVP 12 months on the perfect Purple Sox staff of all time, again in 2018.
Then, after all, they traded him to the Dodgers paying homage to the best way they’d bought Babe Ruth to the Yankees as soon as. Now he bats forward of Ohtani, the brand new Ruth, in Dave Roberts’ batting order, and Ohtani bats forward of Freddie Freeman. Three MVP’s, one proper after one other. All that star energy is why Betts can get missed generally, even now, when he’s the sport’s finest participant within the early season.
Robin Yount was a shortstop who went to the outfield and stored going all the best way to Cooperstown. Nobody can ever bear in mind anyone of Betts’ immense stature (though he’s 5-foot-9) ever going the opposite method.
I requested his supervisor about that the opposite day. That is what Dave Roberts informed me, after instantly citing Yount going within the different course:
“Mookie is extraordinarily uncommon. And watching him play shortstop now, it’s beginning to look extra like his pure place.”
We discuss five-tool gamers in baseball. Now it’s as if Mookie Betts has six. He has performed it in Boston and gained there and performed it in Los Angeles and gained there. Betts has began this season with a .415 batting common, 17 hits, 15 runs, 5 homers and 11 RBIs in 11 video games. He presently has a 1.441 OPS, a .902 slugging proportion and an on-base proportion of .538. He has additionally walked 11 occasions this season.
Betts is a seven-time All-Star, a six-time Silver Slugger Award winner, he has six Gold Glove Awards. In 2018 with the Purple Sox, Mookie turned the primary participant to ever win an MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, batting title and World Collection title all in the identical 12 months. Three different occasions he has completed second within the MVP voting. He has scored greater than 100 runs six occasions, knocked in 100 runs 3 times, hit greater than 30 homers 4 occasions and practically received to 40 final season.
If you happen to bear in mind the 2020 World Collection when Los Angeles confronted Tampa Bay, the Dodgers wouldn’t have gained their first Collection since 1988 with out Betts doing every little thing he did, on the plate and on the bases and within the outfield. In Sport 6 that 12 months, he had an enormous double within the sixth inning that lastly turned the sequence the Dodgers’ method, then raced house later within the inning from third on a floor ball to first base. Within the eighth inning, he capped off what had been a spectacular postseason for him with a house run. When it was over, his teammate Kiké Hernández summed up what we had all seen:
“Mookie Betts is the true deal.”
And a really massive deal, even at his measurement. Betts continues to make historical past, be as a lot of a drive within the area as he’s on the plate and on the bases. On high of all that, he performs the sport with the type of pure pleasure that Willie Mays as soon as did. When the Dodgers wanted him to be a second baseman final season, he turned a second baseman once more. Once they wanted a shortstop this season, nobody was stunned when he raised a hand. In spite of everything the sport he’s proven us in his profession, now he reveals us much more.
Six-tool participant in a sport the place we have a good time 5. Once more: A lot expertise in baseball proper now. No larger expertise than Mookie is. Even taking part in a place as exhausting as brief, he continues to make the sport look simple.
