Dodgers Teammate on Mookie Betts: ‘One of the Hardest-Working Guys I’ve Ever Played With’
It is no secret that Mookie Betts has struggled in the postseason since the 2022 National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.
Betts was definitely feeling the pressure.
In the first two games of the series, he went 0-for-6, extending his postseason slump to a brutal 0-for-22 and just 3-for-44 overall. Even though his teammate Kiké Hernández insists that one postseason doesn’t carry over into the next, it sure looked like Betts’ struggles were continuing — until he flipped the script in Games 3 and 4, going 4-for-9 with two home runs.
For a hitter stuck in a slump, nothing comes easy.
Betts had an almost comical stretch of bad luck, sending balls over the left-field wall in three straight games but nearly walking away with just one home run to show for it.
On Monday, Betts’ off-day workout consisted of 300-400 swings. His new teammate Tommy Edman noticed how hard the outfielder worked and couldn’t help but be in awe of him.
“He’s one of the hardest-working guys I’ve ever played with,” Edman said to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “There will be times when he’ll be taking a bunch of swings in the cage and I’m like, ‘Dude, your swing looks great to me.’ And he’s like, ‘Nah, it doesn’t feel right.’ His standard is just so high.”
Some might call him a perfectionist but Betts knows when something is off and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it right.
“Pretty much as soon as I get to the park I’m in the cage and I don’t leave until I go back on the field,” Betts said. “And I come back inside and I hit some more.”
Betts admits that a big part of the struggle — maybe the biggest part — is mental. Teoscar Hernández pointed out that Betts was pressing, chasing hits to bump up his season stats instead of just focusing on having quality at-bats and making solid contact. Unsurprisingly, things only got worse from there.
Betts has found his rhythm in the last two games.
“With him, it’s always been, when it clicks, we know right away,” hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said to Rosenthal.
Photo Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
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