Mookie Betts Seems More Comfortable This Season at the Plate
Boston Red Sox’s Mookie Betts celebrates his home run with Andrew Benintendi, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Anaheim Angels in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, April 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)Mookie Betts has gotten off to a solid start this season. He has eight home runs, 18 RBI’s and a batting average of .344. Last season at this time his batting average was .293. Mookie Betts has been swinging early in the count and being more aggressive at the plate this season. Also, Betts and other players on the team are connecting with Cora a lot better than they connected with John Farrell.
Alex Cora Likes Mookie Bett’s Approach at the Plate
Betts has a hamstring injury, and it’s not certain if he’ll play against the Kansas City Royals. But overall this season Betts is playing really well. Alex Cora told WEEI earlier this month: “There’s a different approach this season I think Betts set the tempo on the first-pitch fastball of the season when he almost took it out of the ballpark in Tampa against [Chris] Archer. Instead of just working the count, taking pitches right down the middle and falling behind, he’s ready to attack from the get-go. You can see now pitchers, they know what’s going on so they have to grind from the first pitch with every at-bat. I don’t think it’s a hot stretch. I think this is the guy. Obviously, his OPS is not going to be 1.400. He’ll be over .900, and that’s a good leadoff hitter. I mean, that’s elite. That’s what we wanted from the get-go, and he’s done an outstanding job.”
The 20-7 Red Sox have the best record in baseball. They also avoided a sweep this past weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. The question remains if Betts will be able to keep this up all season along and into October. That remains to be unseen, but he seems to be more comfortable at the plate. The Red Sox will have their slumps and so will Betts. It’s a long season. However, It’s been a very fun and watchable team so far.