Steve Webb
Here it is. The last of our 12 position-by-position previews of the Dodgers 2021 lineup. And in a classic case of saving the best for last, we come to the case of one Markus Lynn Betts. This post could literally read. “Mookie Betts is awesome. The End.” and that would be sufficient, but allow me to wax rhapsodic for a paragraph or two about just how awesome he is and why he has become the newest object of Dodger fans’ affection. Since Mookie is the classic “five-tool” player, let’s check all the boxes one by one and bask in the knowledge that we get another decade or so of this in our lives.
Tool One: Batting Average. 2020: .292 AVG. ✔
At the beginning of the year, Dave Roberts, probably at the behest of that meddlin’ front office, was playing around with putting Betts in various spots at the top of the line-up. Betts made it clear he preferred to be a leadoff hitter. Eventually, Roberts relented and the one-two punch of Betts and Seager at the top of the lineup often put the opposition in a hole before they even had a chance to bat. He started a little slow last year, only hitting .256 in July. But he made up for it with a blazing August at .315, and then hit .285 in September. Betts is kind of a throwback leadoff hitter, a speedy guy who gets on base a lot. The big bonus with him, though, is we get all that power thrown in for free.
Tool Two: Power. 2020: 16 HR ✔
At 5’9 and 180, Betts doesn’t “look” like a power hitter, which makes his production all the more impressive. Last season he slugged .562, which is the best in his career outside of his MVP season in 2018. He had a three-homer game against San Diego in August, which was the SIXTH time in his still-young career he’d accomplished that feat. And while his numbers were a little down in the postseason, he showed up when he needed to, almost single-handedly winning Game 6. First with his legs, and then with the tater that made all of LA jump for joy in the 8th inning. As he rounded the bases, all of Southern California could practically taste the champagne.
Tool Three: Speed. 2020: 10 SB ✔
Some guys are just flat-out fast. The Twins’ Byron Buxton comes to mind. But Betts is fast AND smart on the bases. Not only did he get us all free tacos during the World Series with a stolen base, his base-to-base running ability is second-to-none. He reads the field of play so well that he can knows exactly when he can take that extra base and when he can test a fielder’s throwing arm. And, as we saw not once but twice in the postseason, when he is on third, he’s as good as home. You can’t bring the infield in tight enough to keep this guy from scoring. He’s that good.
Tool Four: Arm. 2020: 1 Outfield Assist ✔
Betts’ throwing arm was on vivid display early in the season when he gunned down Ketel Marte trying to stretch a double into a triple in late July. And while his assist numbers were not that high last year, a lot of it probably had to do with the respect that opponents had for the arm. They knew better than to even try to take the extra base against him. And his catch and throw double play against Atlanta in the playoffs (aided by some crappy Marcel Ozuna baserunning) may have been the turning point of the whole series.
Tool Five: Fielding. 2020: 0.8 Defensive WAR ✔
I don’t know, but it seems to me that five consecutive Gold Glove awards is pretty good, no? There may not be a right fielder in baseball that is better off the crack of the bat than Betts. With his speed, he covers a lot of ground out there, and tracks down a lot of balls that would be in the gap otherwise. And, not to go back to the Atlanta series again (which for shear fun and nail-biting excitement was way better than the World Series, in my opinion), but Betts robbed home runs from the Braves on consecutive nights. Which was, I dunno, helpful.
So since I’m all out of tools to talk about I guess this post is over. MLB TV ranked Mookie as the #2 player in baseball behind that Trout guy down in Anaheim at the end of last season. According to Baseball Reference, his WAR for last year was the best in all of baseball at 3.6 overall. Whether Betts is the best or the second-best player in the game is sort of irrelevant. He’s ours and we get to keep him. For a long, long time.
DODGERSBEAT RATING: A+
