Mookie Betts’ Team USA Manager Breaks Down His New Power-Inducing Swing

Mookie Betts has transformed himself into quite the power hitter since coming to the Dodgers. The five-tool player has made an emphasis on slugging, and over the past few seasons, that’s exactly what he’s done at the top of the Dodgers’ lineup.

Last year, Betts hit a career-high 35 home runs for the Boys in Blue, and had an impressive .533 slugging percentage. Since the start of last season, his .533 slugging percentage ranks fifth in all of baseball, only trailing Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Yordan Alvarez and Paul Goldschmidt.

This year, Betts has hit two home runs and four doubles through his first 11 games, and is sporting a slugging percentage of .537. And on Tuesday, he hit his first leadoff home run of the season, taking Giants RHP Logan Webb deep.

On Tuesday, over on the MLB Network, Mark DeRosa, an analyst who also happened to manage Betts and Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, broke down his new swing. While DeRosa called Betts a five-tool player who could easily steal 40 or more bases in a season, he said he’s transformed his swing to help the Dodgers in the slugging department.

“We need to start, like, reimagining how we view Mookie,” DeRosa said. “He’s not this big base stealing threat anymore. He has chosen to go to this power slug game to try and help the Dodgers in that way.”

DeRosa did a full breakdown of Betts’ swing, which you can watch here:

DeRosa goes in depth in the separation Betts is able to keep between his ears and the bat, and how his top hand stays over the swing for the entire duration. This has helped him become this power-hitting guy for the Dodgers, which allowed him to set a career-high in home runs last season, and already get off to a hot start this season.

Expect a lot more home runs from Betts this season, and at least a few more to leadoff the game.

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