Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts has struggled all season, and there’s no way to sugarcoat it. He’s been a fraction of himself, and things come crashing down at the plate every time you think he may turn a corner.
After the Dodgers’ 2-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, Betts opened up about his struggles as it’s the first time in his career a slump has lasted this long.
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“You get so lost in it,” Betts told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “Once you go down a rabbit hole — not a rabbit hole like I’m chasing something — but once you get down so far, up is so high that you just don’t even care about it anymore. Obviously, yes, I do want to play better. But where I was and where I am now, it’s so night and day different.”
Betts’ struggles started as he was working to regain the 20 pounds from a stomach virus before Opening Day. At the time, his struggles were thought to be temporary. However, they haven’t gone away.
“”I’ve never done this,” Betts told Ardaya. “It’s all new. I’ve never been this bad for this long.”
When looking at Betts’ numbers for the season, a few things stand out. As Ardaya mentions, Betts is striking out at a rate of just 11%, a very low number in today’s game. One strikeout for every nine at-bats isn’t an issue.
However, this table breaks down a few key differences between last year’s metrics and this year’s numbers from Baseball Savant.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
| Average Exit Velocity (Percentile) | 64 | 29 |
| Hard Hit Rate (Percentile) | 44 | 20 |
| Launch Angle Sweet Spot (Percentile) | 92 | 60 |
| Squared Up Rate (Percentile) | 99 | 100 |
| Walk Rate (Percentile) | 92 | 58 |
All of these numbers go hand-in-hand with each other, and it starts with the decline in walks. Betts isn’t seeing the ball well out of the pitchers’ hands which is why his walk rates have declined. In turn, his contact isn’t as strong as it should be because of issues with timing.
Baseball Savant defines the sweet spot for launch angle as one between 8-32 degrees for hitters, and Betts has seen that number drop significantly.
A mental reset could, in theory, work for Betts. However, the Dodgers aren’t in a position to give him a week off either. It’s something he will simply have to try and work through as the season continues.
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