NEWSLETTER
Baseball. It’s a young man’s game, and increasingly so over the past few years. From Bryce Harper to Mike Trout to Noah Syndergaard and Julio Urias, the game is all about the kids. Because, I mean, hell, they’re really really good.Â
One of the most exciting young players in the game is Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts. At just 23 years old, you may know Betts from his storied basketball career, or maybe from his mad bowling skills, or maybe even his golf cart driving abilities. But if none of that is ringing a bell, you may know Mookie Betts because he’s already playing in his third major league season and is doing so to a great degree of success.
Last night, for example, Betts had himself a game, in the most deserved use of that phrase ever. First, let’s start with his night at the plate, which included three home runs:
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That’s three home runs, one to each field. Those three homers in five plate appearances is good for a laughable 3.000 OPS on the evening. Even if you were a butcher in the field, that kind of night at the plate would more than make up for it. Except, you know he’s not a butcher. In fact, Betts is downright impressive:
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That was just a legitimately awesome catch. He covered so much ground in such little time and still made the diving/rolling catch. More specifically, thanks to Statcast, we know that Betts made almost an instantaneous reaction, ran 20.7 MPH, while covering 76.7 feet for a 96% route efficiency. Rarely can you say one player single-handedly won the game for a team, but Betts’ Tuesday evening was about as close as it gets.
Have yourself a game, Mookie.
