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This season has been unlike any other for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but for superstar Mookie Betts, it has had quite a few more layers of difficulty.
Betts started off the season with a stomach virus that caused him to lose close to 20 pounds and miss the first two regular season games in Japan, broke his toe about two months later, endured a career-worst slump for most of the season, and in a devastating development, lost his stepfather at the end of July.
Amid all of these events that would cush a mortal man, Betts not only ended his season batting .299 with an OPS of .846 in his last 50 games before the postseason, but was doing so while making an unprecedented switch from right field to shortstop. Even if he did so at an average-rate, it would be impressive, but his Outs Above Average rating at season’s end put him in the 87th percentile among MLB shortstops, and his 17 Defensive Runs Saved led all active shortstops this year.
For all these reasons and more, Betts recently spoke on being proud of his unprecedented position switch.
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“I take a lot of pride of it because the start of the season I wasn’t sure I would end the season there,” Betts said. “I thought there may have to be adjustment at some point because from lack of trust or whatever. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
Betts also takes to a piece of advice that has been key in not just professional baseball, but most aspects of life: to just have fun.
“When I started playing short and I didn’t have to think about it. I could just go out there and play. And now when I go out and play shortstop, it’s like I’m going out to right field. I don’t even think about it.
“My training is good. I believe in myself. I believe in what I can do. And now it’s just like go have fun. When the ball comes, have fun. So that’s when I knew I could finish the season.”
Betts has been having fun, and after flipping a switch in his production at the plate, it has been just as fun to watch him succeed.
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Photo Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images
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