MLB Rundown: It’s Time to Place your (Mookie) Betts
By Mike Honcho
Now that we’re at the quarter mark of the season, let’s take a trip around the MLB and see what players and teams are making news. We start off in Boston, where the Red Sox have placed their Betts on Mookie.
As if the Boston Red Sox needed anymore help in the offense department. Mookie Betts has been on an absolute tear over the past 14 days, banging out 5 HR, scoring 16 runs and driving in 16 RBI. All while slashing a modest .350/.391/.753.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this hot streak is that he’s been hard at work while most everybody else has been fixated on his teammate who happens to be chasing history. While Jackie Bradley Jr has been keeping pace with Joe DiMaggio through 28 games, Betts has done his best to make fans forget about the trade that almost was.
Last season, former General Manager Ben Cherington was feeling intense pressure to make a move to acquire Cole Hamels. The price for such an asset? Well, Betts was the first name on the list. Lucky for Boston, Cherington held firm and this story looks like it’s heading for Happy Ending Land. Or something like that.
Betts is producing up monster numbers thus far, including a .224 ISO, .503 SLG% and his contact rate sits at 83%. This emergence that we’ve all been waiting on seems to be here and this might give Boston the flexibility to move Rusney Castillo, who still holds plenty of value across the league.
Next: The other Sox