PHOENIX — Can Mookie Betts once again be an MVP-caliber offensive player?
“Absolutely,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Relayed Roberts’ words hours later, Betts was unmoved.
“I don’t care about none of that,” he said.
Uh-oh.
Betts sounded emotionally shut down, but that was only until he started explaining what he meant by saying he didn’t care.
“I just want to win,” he said. “It ain’t got nothing to do with me. Play well, cool. I don’t, cool. As long as we win, that’s all I care about.”
Out of the mouths of most other players, those sentences would have sounded like empty words intended to mask the speaker’s insecurities. Except Betts continued talking, and the more he spoke, the more he demonstrated an intimate understanding of what these common sayings really mean.
“I’m too old to be caring about stuff for me now, man,” he said. “Life is not about me anymore. I got kids. I got a family to take care of. I got this (team) to take care of. The more I focus on taking care of those things for other people, it seems like the more God has blessed me.”
Betts and his wife have a 7-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. The couple is expecting their third child next month.
Becoming a father for the first time didn’t change him right away.
“I was an only child growing up, so I didn’t really have to share, didn’t really have responsibility for other people,” Betts said. “So it really kind of took time to learn what responsibility for other people meant. I ain’t gonna say living for other people, but putting other people’s needs and stuff before yours, and how that affects you, I didn’t understand that.”
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But as his children grew, so did his responsibilities. And as he started driving his daughter to school and various activities, he learned what it was like to be counted on.
Something unexpected last year accelerated his personal development: He couldn’t hit.
Betts came down with a stomach virus at the start of last season that resulted in a 20-pound weight loss. An understandable slow start gradually became a nightmare season on offense, as his batting average dropped to as low as .231 in early August.
“Failing last year was the final thing that really needed to happen to me to really get a better understanding of it’s just not about you, bro,” Betts said. “I mean, it sucked, but I’m happy (it happened). Kind of one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
Once he figured he couldn’t salvage his season from a statistical standpoint, he started focusing on what he could do to help the team. The former right fielder and second baseman keyed in on his play at shortstop.
Betts finished the season as Gold Glove finalist. He registered the last two outs of the World Series, fielding a grounder by Alejandro Kirk, stepping on second base and making a throw to Freddie Freeman at first.
Betts batted a career-low .258 but considered the season a success.
“We won,” he said.
But Roberts is convinced Betts will once again have individual triumphs to go along with team victories.
“The way he played shortstop last year and expecting him to be better offensively this year, he will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said.
Betts said he believes he remains capable of that.
Asked if he was the same athlete as he was, say, two or three years ago, Betts replied, “Yeah, absolutely. I’m stronger now. It wasn’t even like I was weak last year. People forget. I had the best spring I ever had last year.”
Betts batted .317 over the final 47 games of the regular season, evidence of his offensive capabilities.
“I didn’t just all of a sudden lose my ability. It’s not that I don’t care if it comes. I do care. I care with everything. But I’m not concerned about coming out of it.
“The results are going to be the results,” Betts said. “I can’t do anything about that. But I can control the process to get there. I can control my attitude and effort toward the process and toward the results as well. So that’s really where I’m at now. If I go hit .200, oh well. Do I help the boys win?”
Do what’s best for the team. Control what you can control. For Betts, they’re more than slogans. They’re a roadmap to another championship — perhaps even a roadmap for a personal renaissance.
