Through his first 35 games of the season, Mookie Betts touted a .181/.250/.341 slash line. That production was sandwiched around a stint on the IL for an oblique strain he suffered running the bases in early April, but generally speaking, he’d just never gotten out of first gear this year. That was concerning because, while Betts had in 2025 turned in another 3-WARP season, he had done so by trading an elite bat for an elite glove amidst a position change. Wins are wins, and no one would complain about a premium glove at a premium position—much less from a former right fielder—but the disappearance of Betts’ bat was a notable storyline, if one complicated by his early-season illness and resultant weight loss.

It’s been difficult to disentangle Betts’ performance dropoff at the plate from his various maladies (broken hand in 2024, illness in 2025, oblique in 2026), the position change of it all, and the plain fact that he’s now exiting the back end of his prime. The reality is that his swing speed experienced a significant drop-off from 2023 to 2024; perhaps not coincidentally, 2023 was his last elite season at the dish. He’s always been among the slower swingers in the league—closer to an Arraez or Kwan type than you’d think, because he always generated just enough power to separate himself from them.