Mookie Betts arrives:
Red Sox teammate says, ‘He’s a special player, special talent’
The Boston and American League starting outfielder is shooting toward superstardom and might not be close to his ceiling.
BOSTON – The legend of Mookie Betts began almost 26 years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, and it’s still in its early chapters. How that legend will grow and where the tale will take us remain to be seen.
But it was almost inevitable that it would bring us to this point.
It began when his parents had the prescience to bestow upon their baby boy a name, the initials of which would determine his future: Markus Lynn Betts. Even better, they then gave him a nickname nearly unparalleled in its ability to be belted out by packed stadiums nearly every night: MOOOOOOKIE. (And, not to worry Boston fans. The nickname is in honor of Mookie Blaylock, the former NBA player his parents admired, not Mookie Wilson, the baseball player who helped to put a dagger through the collective hearts of Red Sox Nation in 1986.)
He even had an uncle, Terry Shumpert, who had a 14-season big-league career, including 21 games for Boston in 1995. Betts wasn’t drafted until the fifth round in 2011, the 172nd overall pick, likely because of his commitment to the University of Tennessee. Since then, though, he has made himself one of the best players in the game.
When the Red Sox assigned Betts to Class AA to begin the 2014 season, a talent evaluator from another organization offered, unprompted, that he would just promote Betts to the big leagues right then, put him in the lineup every day and not worry about him. That’s how sure he was of Betts’ abilities.
While the road to the major leagues is littered with minor league studs who turn into major league duds, Betts has justified that scout’s faith. And then some.
Betts made his major league debut June 29, 2014, going 1for-3 with a walk and a run scored, playing right field at Yankee Stadium. In his first home opening-day game, in 2015, he became the first Red Sox leadoff hitter with at least one homer, four RBI and two stolen bases since the RBI became an official stat in 1920. In 2016, Betts finished second in American League MVP voting to Mike Trout, winning a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award.
“He might be one of the best athletes in Major League Baseball,” Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais says. “He’s got the whole package. I think a thing that maybe people don’t give him enough credit for is his baseball IQ . ... I think his baseball IQ is off the chart.”
Betts had what was an off year for him in 2017, hitting .264 with a .344 on-base percentage and .459 slugging percentage, below what were then his career averages of .291, .348 and .471, respectively, entering the season. This season, though, he has again put himself at or near the top of most offensive categories.
He’s also a starter on the American League team that will play in the July 17 All-Star Game in Washington.
“I think the fact that he does everything well, it’s not just one thing, is what caught me by surprise,” first-year teammate J.D. Martinez says. “I knew he was a good player, but I think he does a lot of little things really good.”
Betts, who came up as a middle infielder and converted to an outfielder in 2014, has even surprised himself. He has won the last two AL Gold Gloves as a right fielder and started the last two All-Star Games in the outfield.
“I didn’t know how good I would be at defense as far as being in the outfield,” he says. “I knew I could run down some balls, but I didn’t know I could be as efficient as I’ve been. But it took a lot of work and I’m still working on things trying to get better. Some of the power stuff that I’ve done I didn’t know I could do. I knew I could hit some home runs, but I didn’t know I could do what I’ve done. Sometimes it just seems that that’s something I might not get used to until I get a little older.”
Center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is stationed next to Betts in the outfield as well as in the Red Sox clubhouse, with side-byside lockers. He is one of Betts’ best friends in the organization and one of the few people who calls Betts by his given name of Markus.
“He’s a special player, special talent, special teammate,” Bradley says.
Betts, who turns 26 on Oct. 7, is exactly 14 months younger than the Trout, who has two MVPs (and six top-5 finishes) and a Rookie of the Year on his résumé. Trout knows Betts could be among the group hoping to unseat Jose Altuve, the reigning AL MVP.
“It’s awesome,” Trout says. “We both respect the game tremendously, we play the game hard, and every time we go out there we love to compete.
“You root for young guys who come up in the league and have an impact like he’s done so far. He’s fun to watch, plays the game hard. I hear nothing but good things about him: As a player that comes to the ballpark every day and respects the game and plays 100 percent every play and don’t take a play off, as an outfielder you see guys like that and you respect that. So he’s fun to watch.”
Angels manager Mike Scioscia knows what it’s like to watch an MVP every day.
“(Betts is) multidimensional,” Scioscia says. “You got to pay attention to him on the bases. In the outfield he’s terrific. He’s got a great feel for the game.
“So he’s definitely put himself in the MVP conversation for many years to come and there’s no doubt there’s some challenges when you’re facing a guy as talented as Mookie.”
‘Can do whatever he wants’
Alex Cora is the Red Sox’s first-year manager who has the benefit of writing in Betts’ name at the top of his lineup each day. Asked what Betts’ ceiling might be, Cora just laughs and shakes his head.
“Talent-wise he can do whatever he wants in this game,” Cora says. “He can hit for average, for power, run, score, drive in runs, play good defense. But I think it’s going to get to a point where on a daily basis he can be a championship player, every day he can be game changer. We’re not there yet; we’re working towards that. And it’s not talent-wise; it’s a mentality.
“Sometimes I tell him, ‘Hey, be cocky, man, you’re good. Let people know.’ But it’s not in his DNA. He’s very humble. But I think on a daily basis when Trout comes into town, people will ask questions about Trout. It’s going to get to a point that when we go play anywhere, people are going to ask about Mookie.”
While Betts sees himself taking on more of a leadership role on the field and in the clubhouse, he’s not quite where Cora envisions him going. Yet.
“Maybe not right now, but maybe at some point, hopefully,” Betts says. “I think it may help my confidence, for sure. I’m a pretty confident guy, but when things go rough, I’ll kind of search a little bit and try and find it.
“Where if I have maybe that kind of confidence of, ‘Hey, I got it no matter what,’ then maybe those rough patches are shortened.”
Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski knows what it would mean to have a player such as Betts in the Red Sox lineup for the long term.
“I think he should be a threat on a yearly basis to be an MVPtype of player,” Dombrowski says. “That’s the kind of upside that is as good as there is for anybody in the game of baseball.”
Betts is signed through this season and under team control through 2021.
“I always say in those situations is the Boston Red Sox would like to have Mookie as a player in our organization for a long time,” Dombrowski says. “We’ll see if that can end up happening . ... We’d love to have a guy like that here for a long time.”
Betts is still trying to figure out where his ceiling might be.
“That’s a great question. I don’t really know,” Betts says. “I hadn’t put any scouting reports out (on myself). I feel like I can be one of the better players around. That’s just one of those things where I have to go and work and just do everything I can to make that happen.
“I’m in the process of it now.”