Dodgers: Mookie Betts is slowly carving his way to the Hall of Fame

The two times World Series Champion, Mookie Betts, is continuing his ninth MLB season, acing every test for the Dodgers tremendously. With an impressive track record, Betts is carving towards Cooperstown. His phenomenal gameplay indicates that sooner or later, he will become part of the Hall of Fame.

During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Mookie Betts talked about his dream of getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. He added that he desires to have a Hall of Fame speech someday.

Betts is a 29-year-old right fielder for Los Angeles Dodgers. He was initially drafted by Boston Red Sox in 2011 and made his Major League Baseball debut in 2014. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.

Joe Torre, the former MLB player, shared his views on Mookie Betts. Per Torre, Betts shows a lot of attributes similar to Hank Aaron. He is as resilient and hard-working as Aaron.

Glimpse of Mookie Betts’ illustrious career, before and during Dodgers run

In 2010, Mookie Betts batted .548 as a student at John Overton High School in Nashville. In November of that year, he signed a letter of commitment to attend the University of Tennessee on a baseball scholarship.

At Overton, Betts was a standout basketball player, voted MVP of the District 12-AAA league his senior season and Class AAA All-City Player of the Year for the Nashville region. Betts was District 12-AAA MVP as a junior. Betts was the 2010 Tennessee boys Bowler of the Year with a high score of 290.

In 2011, the Boston Red Sox drafted him as a second baseman. He signed a $750,000 contract and played for GCL Red Sox the same year. Here he did play shortstop, but was more comfortable with second base. In 2013, he batted .296 with a 19-game phenomenal hitting streak. The same year, he was promoted to Salem Red Sox.

In Boston’s minor league system, Markus Lynn “Mookie” Betts was named Offensive Player of the Year and Breakout of the Year before 2014, when he debuted in MLB. Betts became the youngest Sox player to hit a grand slam in the last 49 years. In 2015, he became the third-youngest player to hit a home run.

The same year, Betts was named AL Player of the Week with two home runs, two triples, three doubles, seven RBI, and eight runs.

Due to his impressive play, in 2016, Betts was named Defensive Player of the Year and became the finalist for American League MVP Award alongside José Altuve and Mike Trout. He was a runner-up in the award to Trout.

In 2017, he received his Golden Glove Award. In 2018, Betts became the first player in MLB history to score four three-homer games. He ended the season with a Silver Slugger Award and a Gold Glove Award.

2019 demonstrated his brilliance in the field. On the defensive side, he had a 15 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) rating, which was the best in the American League among right fielders.

However, even after brilliance, Sox traded Mookie Betts to Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. The Dodgers inked Betts to a 12-year-long contract for $365 million, in which his $65 million signing bonus was included. It was the richest contract in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the third-highest (at the time) in the history of North American sports.

His impressive play the same year made him the first Dodger and the 19th overall player to have a multi-homer and multi-steal game. In the 2021 season, he mostly didn’t play due to injury. He underwent surgery for a cracked rib earlier this year but returned to hit his 200th career home run against Alex Wood from San Francisco Giants.

Phenomenal achievements for Mookie Betts

Markus Lynn “Mookie” Betts is a fantastic baseball player with several accolades and records.

Heading into Saturday’s games, Mookie Betts has:

• 154 stolen bases
• .294 batting average
• 626 runs batted in (RBI)
• 1,256 hits
• 203 home runs

Career highlights and triumphs

Mookie Betts has been part of the All-Star Game for six years, from 2016 to 2019, then in 2021 and 2022. He was selected in AL MVP in 2018, All-MLB first team in 2020, All-MLB second team in 2019, AL batting champion in 2018, and hit for the cycle of August in 2018.

So far, he has received the Silver Slugger Award, which he won four times, in 2016 and from 2018 to 2020. He won five Gold Glove Awards from 2016 to 2020. In 2016 and 2018, he won the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award.

From 2016 to 2018 and in 2020, Betts won Fielding Bible Award four times.

Betts making history

Betts attributes his achievements to the fact that, in addition to feeling physically good, he has also made efforts to improve his mental health. He has shifted his concentration from listening to music to listening to podcasts and advice from people like actor Will Smith and motivational speaker Inky Johnson.

The manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dave Roberts, admits that after having Mookie Betts on the roster, his sleep quality has improved. It’s the power of reliability on him that even his team knows that when Betts is in the field, there is no one they are afraid of.

Betts has made it his goal to create history in every at-bat. In his first nine MLB seasons, he has already achieved great success. Earlierthis year, he went up yet another chart, tying Alfonso Soriano for the most multi-homer games out of the leadoff place in the lineup.

Betts is unwavering in his conviction that the best is yet to come. He knows how difficult it is to enter the Hall of Fame. That is exactly how he prefers to have things set up.

He has said that he wants to win an NL MVP honor and become a part of another World Series. These things are complex and challenging to tackle, but he is sure he will do it one day as hardships promise exceptional results.