This should be a first, a player who signs up for $ 365 million and somehow surrenders.
Whether expectations were tempered because the marketing failure of baseball kept him relatively unknown in this part of the country or because fans learned lucrative contracts did not guarantee production, the reality is that Mookie Betts has been a revelation for Los Angeles.
Betts was expected to do well, very well himself. Instead, he has been great.
Early season performances have made the Dodgers’ new leadoff hitter a rarity in a city fueled by excessive hype and populated by D-list celebrities. Betts is not the gold of the fool. He is not a well-made facsimile. He is the real article.
“I just do not know how many more superlatives you can add,” said manager Dave Roberts.
More than a third of the way to a shortened season, the Dodgers have the best record in the National League. Betts has been her driving force.
The former American League MVP improved his average to .314 and rode in his 19th run in an 8-3 victory over the Angels on Sunday. His eight home points are the most on the team.
He’s a better defender than advertised, worse than advertised, and certainly more powerful than advertised.
Betts at 5 feet 9 and 180 pounds, Betts looks like a hitter of singles. An active imagination could appear to him as a doubter.
In fact, its short and sleek frame contains legitimate power from home.
“It’s more power than I expected,” Roberts said. ‘You know there’s the bat-to-ball, you know the defense, the arm strength, the accuracy, the foot speed. You know he swings to strikes, takes balls. But the way he can use a baseball impresses me. ‘
So much for the fears that Betts’ power was amplified by the asymmetrical layout of the Boston Red Sox home park and would not translate to Dodger Stadium. He has averaged 27 home games the last five seasons in Boston.
“There was an intrasquad game and he put it [a home run] in the middle of the air pavilion and I just could not believe it, ”said Roberts. ‘You know, Fenway Park, there’s a double, it’s a short left field. But to see it at night at our ballpark just got me excited. ”
Highlights of the Dodgers’ 8-3 victory over the Angels on Sunday.
That ability was shown Thursday, when Betts blew three home games in a win over the San Diego Padres. The game of three at home was the sixth of his career, equal to the record previously shared by Johnny Mize and Sammy Sosa.
But he also has a stability that sets him apart from the other elite athletes who have played for the Dodgers in recent years – for example, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Cody Bellinger.
Mike Trout of the Angels is perhaps the only other player as dynamic and consistent as Betts.
“I can not remember anyone like Trout,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the two superstars have something in common, which is an openness to instruction.
“If you have a certain talent and perform at a certain level, then there’s always that kind of natural inwardness of, ‘I found out, I do not need to be guided,’ ‘Roberts said.” And, really, those two players have said it many times, if they are not coached, then something is wrong. “
The quality has made them all-round players. Roberts pointed out how when Betts slowly started offensively – he batted .200 in the first week of the season – he helped the Dodgers win with his defense.
“That’s the difference between good players and great players,” Roberts said.
Anyone who says such greatness should be expected of a $ 300-million player has a point.
For a degree.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, baseball was a business of $ 10 billion a year. The economic climate created talented but imperfect players like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado $ 300-million players.
Unfortunately, it seems, Betts’ deal could be classified as a bargain, especially considering the $ 115 million in proposal.
There were concerns that Betts’ low-key behavior could limit his career in a city that is teeming with too-large personalities. That could be the case. But there is also the possibility that his expressive playing style could make up for it and allow him to become one of the few soft-spoken athletes to transcend sports in this city.
Asked how fans would expect him to be when Dodger Stadium opened, Roberts said: “I think you should have about 40,000 No. 50 jerseys.”
Roberts went on to say, ‘I will say that because they do not see him in person every day, you just cannot appreciate what he does. Running out to his position. On the bench, watching the game, talking to his teammates. The jumps on the baseball in the outside field and the ground he really covers there. And of course how his teammates react to him when he gets a base hit like a homer or how he reacts to the success of his teammates. ”
While Betts said he was trying not to think about the pressure of playing his contract, he acknowledged, ‘I will not say it is not there, but I just embrace it. I just go in and play my game and do what I always do, not try to do more, not try to do less. ”
And that has made him a valuable investment.
