Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts On His Recent Batting Struggles: ‘It Gives You A New Perspective'

Forbes

2 days ago

Mookie Betts knows this has been a rough year for him.
The former AL MVP and eight-time All-Star is one of the greatest players of this generation. However, he's never gone through as rough of a season as he has this season. The 32-year-old star is batting a career-low .244 along with a .314 OBP and .370 slugging percentage.
Betts recently went through the roughest stretch of his career, going 0-for-22 while snapping a five-game hitless streak.
"I think it gives you just a new perspective on failure," says Betts in a one-on-one interview. "You don't really think 0-for-10 is the end of the world, but you go four months and you're hitting like this. It can't get much worse, you know? If it does get worse, at least you've been through something similar to kind of give you a blueprint to kind of get out of it."
The veteran star has since been batting better, with .280/.321/.380 in the month of August. However, they are obviously still below his career batting averages of .290/.369/.512.
It's worth noting that he's also dealt with a broken hand injury stemming from last season. That could be playing a major role in the struggles.
"I will never forget the rest of my life these last four or five months, however long it's been," says Betts. I can really kind of apply it to life. It really taught me about life and going through the ups and downs, and really just kind of how to mentally handle whatever comes my way."
Betts, who enlisted in the help of former Boston Red Sox teammate J.D. Martinez to help break out of his batting slump, says teammates and friends are key for batting through the struggles. However, the most important thing is "believing in yourself."
As the Dodgers prepare to defend their World Series crown, they'll need the three-time World Series champ to do exactly that.
"There's many, many avenues, but honestly, the most important thing is just believing and trusting yourself and being your own best friend," says Betts. "Other people are always going to cheer you up. But if you don't really believe in yourself, if you don't pump yourself up and be your own best friend, it's not going to really work. Nothing's really going to work."
Betts is now in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak dating back to August 5 after enlisting in the help of his 2018 World Series champion teammate Martinez.
"It really took me giving myself grace, being patient with myself, letting myself fail, in order for me to get to the right answer," says Betts. "Letting myself make the right or wrong answer over and over and over again. I went through a time where I was frustrated, getting frustrated with myself, and beating myself up. JD actually came in and kind of helped me, just helped me with grace and patience. That's what has kind of gotten me out of it."
As Betts prepares to hopefully make another World Series run with the Dodgers, he's partnering with Corona for their "Playa Sounds" campaign. The commercial sees Betts get into the right headspace by listening to a mix of real MLB audio games while relaxing on the beach with a bottle of Corona next to him.
Fans can visit Corona's Instagram page until Sep. 1 by commenting on the collaboration and enter for a chance to win two tickets to this year's World Series.
"We all know Corona is a huge brand and something super dope to be a part of," says Betts. "We started with Playa sounds, and this is essentially just to get into the right frame of mind going into the postseason, coming down to the stretch. There's some big games now, so we worked together to create some sounds. We got to pick some sounds from some big hits that I've had in the postseason, and I was able to just put them into a soundtrack. That's kind of something that puts me in the zone, not too intense, but not too relaxed. But right in the middle, and just something to kind of listen to to get me ready."
Betts says he doesn't have a strict routine before a game to get himself ready. He moreso takes things at a casual approach and wouldn't consider himself to be a superstitious player. He says he mainly just talks to teammates and people while remaining "in the moment."
"Real simple," says Betts of his approach before a game. "There are a lot of superstitious people out there. I tried it. I really did try the headphones and lock in on the zone thing, but it just didn't really work for me."