{"id":34487,"date":"2026-06-20T05:39:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/why-dodgers-mookie-betts-has-been-unluckiest-hitter-in-mlb\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T05:39:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:39:30","slug":"why-dodgers-mookie-betts-has-been-unluckiest-hitter-in-mlb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/20\/why-dodgers-mookie-betts-has-been-unluckiest-hitter-in-mlb\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts has been unluckiest hitter in MLB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Mookie Betts felt like he had done everything right in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n<p>He timed up a first-pitch cutter that Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen left right down the middle. He took an aggressive swing that sent the ball screaming off his bat at 101.3 mph. He scorched a line drive that, according to MLB\u2019s Baseball Savant system, had an expected batting average of .640 \u2014 the kind of contact that should have gone for a hit more than six times out of 10.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts still is looking to get his batting average back on track this season.  <span class=\"credit\">Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This, however, was not one of those occasions.<\/p>\n<p>Just as Betts broke out of the box, he looked up to see Rays infielder Taylor Walls snare the ball for a lineout at shortstop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just kind of have to live with that,\u201d Betts said a day later. \u201cIt sucks living with. But what else can you do?\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Such has been the story of Betts\u2019 season this year, one that has seen <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/29\/sports\/dodgers-mookie-betts-stands-by-bold-prediction-despite-shaky-start\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the former MVP continue to lag well behind his typical offensive production<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Through 40 games (he missed more than a month with an oblique strain in April), the 33-year-old is hitting just .203. That\u2019s 85 points below his career average and 55 points worse than his career-worst mark of .258 in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>His quality of contact, however, suggests his numbers should be much better.<\/p>\n<p>According to Baseball Savant, Betts\u2019 expected batting average (which accounts for exit velocity and launch angle) is .277. The 74-point gap between his actual and expected average is the biggest in baseball.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, he might be the unluckiest hitter in the sport now.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Is Shohei Ohtani Pushing Too Hard? And Mookie Betts Baffling Slump Metrics\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gMo-EA06evk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a coincidence.<\/p>\n<p>Betts is aware of his extreme analytics, having received constant reminders of them from the Dodgers\u2019 hitting staff as he tries to turn his season around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe coaches are trying to help keep me positive, which I wholeheartedly appreciate,\u201d he said in an interview with The California Post on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, though, he noted that expected statistics are \u201cnot real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to keep hitting it hard and throwing my hat in the ring for hits, which [you do by] hitting it hard and on the right angle and all that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also want to win the game. So a bloop sometimes is better.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Betts, who missed more than a month with an oblique strain, is hitting .203. <span class=\"credit\">Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To Betts, there\u2019s a reason behind the bad fortune.<\/p>\n<p>Too often, he feels, he has been \u201ccutting my swing off\u201d and \u201cnot staying through [the ball], staying inside of it\u201d enough. The result has been plenty of balls hit hard but too few that have been elevated with power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily that I want to hit it in the air [for a fly ball],\u201d he said. \u201cI just want to get it off the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why, for the first time in his career, Betts has begun diving deeper into the mechanics of his swing, taking renewed note of everything from body positioning to swing angles to where on the bat he is making contact with each swing.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a more taxing process for him mentally. But also one he hopes can make his actual statistics look more like his expected marks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy whole life, I haven\u2019t really had to think in this type of detail,\u201d Betts said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to just have an innate ability to figure it out. Figure out how to get hits. Figure out how to compete. But now, I don\u2019t know what it is, but if I\u2019m not perfect, if I\u2019m not in the right position, hitting it center on the bat, I don\u2019t really have much of a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That Betts is in this place is not a surprise. Always undersized and long saddled with below-average bat speed, the 13-year veteran has only seen his margin for error narrow as he has gotten older. This year\u2019s oblique injury, and the toll of last year\u2019s transition to being a full-time shortstop (where, granted, he continues to stand out defensively, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/13\/sports\/mookie-betts-owns-up-to-error-in-yoshinobu-yamamotos-perfect-game-bid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last week\u2019s error to snap Yoshinobu Yamamoto\u2019s perfect-game bid<\/a> aside) have only added to the complications.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Betts has seven home runs this season, but he went 2-for-11 in the series sweep against the Rays.   <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/William Liang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At times, Betts has still shown his slugging prowess of old.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend, he had five hits, including a pull-side drive for his seventh home run of the year, during a trip to Chicago against the White Sox.<\/p>\n<p>However, that did not prove to be a turning point. Betts went just 2-for-11 in this week\u2019s series sweep of the Rays, watching several more hard-hit balls \u2014 Tuesday night\u2019s lineout chief among them \u2014 turn into frustrating outs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the word I would say, if I had to sum it up, is he\u2019s been searching,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cI think all year he\u2019s been searching, and nothing has stuck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Betts is hopeful he has found some answers lately. He said Wednesday he has made some recent mechanical adjustments to simplify his swing. He believes he has done better at \u201cattacking\u201d the ball and hitting it with a preferred launch angle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just more off the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cGround balls are outs in the big leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, the outs continue to pile up. The batting average remains the worst of his career.<\/p>\n<p>The longer it goes on, the less it will feel like just luck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The analytics] could predict that this ball I just hit has a .400 average, but it\u2019s still a lineout,\u201d he said. \u201cSo sure, those are great [from a contact standpoint]. You probably analyze players that way. But I\u2019m trying to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And for the Dodgers to keep winning games at the MLB-best pace they are right now, they\u2019ll eventually need Betts\u2019 actual numbers to catch up with his expected metrics.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mookie Betts felt like he had done everything right in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday evening. He timed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/20260601_mjr_su5_008.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-sports-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}