Los Angeles superstar Mookie Betts could miss Friday’s series opener against his former team, the Boston Red Sox, for personal reasons, with each manager Dave Roberts.
Roberts did not specify why, but said Betts could be out for the series opener.
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“It may be that he may not be around, that he has to deal with personally,” Roberts said after Wednesday’s victory over the Minnesota twins. “He’s all fine, but yeah, we’ll see.”
Betts hit just .172 with .478 OPS in his final 30 games and was recently moved to the leadoff spot to deal with his struggle. Since the move, Betts has gone 17-3 on two walks.
It was a disappointing season for Betts, who dates back to the tail end of spring training, when he lost nearly 20 pounds due to a stomach bug to force his team’s trip to Japan early and two regular season games that followed.
The right fielder turned shortstop started hot in the year, hitting .316 in his first 10 games, but things have cooled ever since.
Betts is still an elite defender, third among active shortstops in terms of savings in defensive runs and 10th in terms of above average outs.
Betts’ plate discipline is still held at his 11% strikeout rate (95th percentile of MLB overall) and a swing-and-miss rate of just 17% (87th percentile). Betts hasn’t hit the ball cleanly this season.
His hard hit percentage (below 95 mph hits) is the 19th percentile across MLB, 34.6% of the time, with his average exit speed being the 28th percentile of his major, averaged 88.4 mph.
Until Wednesday, Betts is just .238 with an OPS .679. Both are far more career lows for eight-time All-Stars and seven-time Silver Sluggers.
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Photo credit: Jeff Hanisch-Mimagn Image
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