He has a good baseball IQ. He is the prospect of the future. He has played to well to show any signs of slowing down. Those are all things said that have been said of rookie sensation Mookie Betts since he made his MLB debut a little over 2 months ago. But mind you, those things were also all said about another rookie sensation last season; Xander Bogarts.
Betts joined the Red Sox in the final week of June when the team was already realizing that 2014 was yet another lost year. He was never seen as a help-us-now kind of player but rather an asset worth testing going into 2015. The Red Sox front office, who by then were realizing that perhaps their biggest weakness was in their outfield, scanned their minor leagues and were reminded of Betts who had definitely been catching eyes since April.
After starting the year in Single-A Greenville Drive, the 21 year old climbed through Boston's Lowell, Portland and eventually Triple-A Paw Sox teams. Excelling on every level, Betts was called up in June following the demotion of Daniel Nava. Since then, he has hit solidly with a batting average of .291. Also, though he stands just 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs just 156 pounds, 13 of his 39 hits have been for extra bases (4 home runs, 8 doubles, 1 triple). He has also stolen 5 bases.
That speed has also helped Betts in the field. He has logged a fielding percentage of 1.000 in 28 games in center field while committing just one error in left. His DWAR is the best of any Red Sox outfielder this season and his range when chasing down fly balls is challenged only by a healthy Shane Victorino.
But what does this mean for next season? Does Betts have a place in the future lineup of the Boston Red Sox?
Looking back to last season, the Red Sox organization was faced with a similar situation. Xander Bogarts had earned a spot in the lineup but flopped in 2014 hitting just .236 and batting in just 37 runs.
But John Farrell sees longevity in the game of Betts and feels that he can adapt his game to a sort that will let him play for many years. Farrell things that Betts is a very good player. As of now, the Sox have him playing second base in Dustin Pedroia's absence.
“When you look around and you look at the number of guys we had in that leadoff spot until Brock settled in, we tried four or five different guys, but to have that skill set — on-base, base-stealing ability and in his case, the ability to impact the baseball with extra-base power, he’s a pretty dynamic skill set,” John said.
If Betts is to stay with Boston next year, it will not be at second base. If he stays a Red Sox he will be deemed better than any other player the team could field at center field.
Ben Cherrington is liberal about speaking of what he thinks of Betts chances at being that guy next year.
“Look, we understand next April there’s nine spots in the lineup so nine people will be in the lineup and we’ll figure out who those nine guys are and how it all winds up,” said Cherington. “I think we want as many good players as we can and we’re happy that we think we have a number of guys that could play center field in the major leagues, and in our particular ballpark, we like having more than one center fielder in the lineup at any time anyway because of the dimensions and hopefully this gives us a chance to do that.”
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