Dodgers News: Insider Worries About Mookie Betts’ Focus Heading into Postseason Play
Mookie Betts has had a slow start to the 2022 NLDS — that’s putting it nicely. Through two games, Betts is 1-8 with a double, a walk, and two strikeouts. He’s done a lot more bad than good out of the leadoff spot.
The general consensus around Betts, however, is that he’ll turn it around. He’s been in the postseason plenty of times before, and there’s a reason he’s a former MVP. But not everyone is feeling good about the Dodgers’ superstar.
LA insider David Vassegh joined the guys on AM570 to talk about the NLDS. He showed some serious concern about the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter.
“Mookie Betts, as great of a player as he is, is very streaky,” Vassegh told Petros and Money. “His season was basically made by a monster May and a monster August to give him the total numbers that he had at the end of the year. He’s a very streaky hitter and the Dodgers need him to get back into that hot zone because the last month of the year he was very average as well. So, it’s great that he loves to bowl, but he’s got to refocus on baseball.”
That last line was the real killer. Betts posted a video of himself on Instagram bowling a ‘300’ in the time off between the end of the regular season and Game 1 of the NLDS. He was also a guest on Jimmy Kimmel during the break. None of that would have been an issue if he made an instant impact in the NLDS. But unfortunately, that just hasn’t been the case.
The Dodgers need Betts to be the MVP-like player he was in May and August if they want a chance at winning this series, and, even more so, a World Series. So hopefully for the Dodgers, Betts bat gets going quickly.
Looking for more Dodgers News? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest news, updates, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
I thought that something was off with him – perhaps an undisclosed injury.
Betts is overrated. He is a very good player. Too inconsistant to be called a super star. He and JT need to show up and produce or we will not win this series.
Yes- Betts used to be a high batting average hitter and steal quite a few bases. Now, besides his defense, the only thing he’s good at is hitting home runs, and even that’s not at an elite level. He definitely should not be the leadoff hitter- he doesn’t even walk a lot or have a high on-base percentage.
Betts is Byron Buxton Lite.
He seems to be taking too many called 3d strikes and also doing too much chasing bad pitches out of the zone, and letting good ones to hit go by. Not aggressive enough. I hope he comes around in time; JT also!
What a fan base, people who never played baseball past little league passing judgment on great players. Hitting a fast or curving round ball with a round bat squarely is very hard. They should try it sometime. And “Insider” is baseballese for Idiot.
true, but I don’t care how hard it is to hit a curve ball or 100 mph cutter, that’s what they’re paid a lot of money to do. That’s the reason Betts is on the team and you and I are not. He needs to get it going, because that’s what a champion does. Fortunately he’s done it more than once before, so I’m confident he’ll come around soon. Last year Freddie was something like 0 for 9 in the first 2 games in the nlcs, and look what happened. On a side note, I think it wasn’t a wise move to post crap on social media and appear on talk shows right before the nlds started. Not a good look.
Gj your right when your losing everyone’s pointing fingers when your winning he’s the best of all time it’s baseball your supposed to fail at least 70%of the time relax all
Sal…can you give us a score for Saturday’s game four. Yes I am looking for a Dodger win
Ridiculous headline. It’s not focus, it’s just a streaky talent and how lucky we get.
Seriously? What a pointless article. If you think that Mookie bowling is causing him to struggle in only two postseason games, then you don’t understand baseball or athletes. They need a release of stress to channel that much focus. Stop trashing our team with these vapid rants.
Glad I’m not the only who thinks this way. I can’t remember where i read or heard about him bowling a 300. No business bowling till after the season. It may or may nor affect his game play but no production so far in this NLDS has me convinced that it does. All BS aside we lost as a team and need to go back to the fundamentals. Hit & run, sacrifice fly, steal a base, even drop a bunt down??? Sometimes you gotta sacrifice an out or 2 for a run, which ia what we lost by. But that’s not Dave Roberts’ style
Not only Mookie but Will Smith need to step up his game quick, fast, and in a hurry, he has left way to many runners on base.
At least Will Smith is not complaining about how long the season is and what a grind it is. Doesn’t Mookie earn a big salary to stay focused?