Mookie Betts: The Babe Ruth of not striking out
In the seventh inning Tuesday night, Boston Red Sox All-Star Mookie Betts lashed a hanging breaking ball from reliever Joe Smith into the second deck at Rogers Centre, his first home run of a season that may once again conclude with Betts finishing near the top of American League MVP voting.
What Betts did an inning later seemed far less remarkable – but was perhaps even more impressive.
Betts fell into a two-strike hole against Toronto reliever Danny Barnes and at that point, there was about a 50% chance Betts would strike out.
But he did not strike out, because these days, Mookie Betts never strikes out.
Sure, his final at-bat of the night ended in a foul out to the catcher. But it also extended a remarkable streak that stretches to last season: 128 plate appearances without a strikeout.
Betts has not struck out since the Baltimore Orioles’ Oliver Drake fanned him in a Sept. 12 game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Betts’ K-less streak is the longest since Juan Pierre’s 147 in 2004.
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That Betts still has a goose egg in the strikeout column 50 plate appearances into this season is all the more remarkable given the “Grip It and Rip It” era he plays in. The league-average American League batter is on pace to strike out 129 times this season over 600 plate appearances.
In 2016, the league average figure was 124 strikeouts per 600 PAs, with Orioles slugger Chris Davis leading the way with 219 Ks. Davis also hit 38 home runs, a decent illustration of the modern player who seemingly sells out for power, strikeouts be damned.
That makes Betts’ bat control all the more remarkable. He struck out just 80 times in 730 plate appearances in 2016 – his 11% rate ranking seventh in the AL - and still managed to hit 31 home runs and get on base at a .363 clip. He finished second to Mike Trout in AL MVP voting.
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The only players joining Betts in the top 20 of AL home runs and top 10 of strikeout percentage in 2016 are almost certainly future Hall of Famers. Los Angeles Angels DH Albert Pujols struck out just 11.5% of the time (75 in 650 plate appearances) and equaled Betts’ 31 home runs. And Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre fanned at a rate of 10.3% (66 in 640 plate appearances) and hit 32 home runs.
Those are tough numbers to come by in any era. Consider Pierre, for instance. In that 2004 season, Pierre struck out just 35 times in 748 plate appearances. But he also hit just three home runs and had a .407 slugging percentage, compared to Betts’ .534 slugging in 2016.
Betts, still just 24, conceivably will grow into more power. His aptitude for the strike zone, already high, also figures to get better, given he still doesn’t yet have 2,000 major league plate appearances.
For now, he and the Red Sox will enjoy this valuable and increasingly rare combo of power and plate discipline.
And he’ll continue a pursuit that’s received scant attention to date, but may pick up steam as Betts continues to put bat on ball.
Dave Cash of the Philadelphia Phillies went 223 plate appearances without a strikeout in 1976. According to Elias, that’s the longest streak in the expansion (1961 and later) era.
Betts could be closing in on that mark by mid-May, a chase that may not generate the 24-7 coverage a good old-fashioned home run battle might. And Betts isn’t quite Babe Ruth, whose 60 home runs in 1927 were five more than the average team produced that season.
But at this point, the 5-9 Betts remains Ruthian in his own art: Putting the ball in play. And, every so often, putting it over the fence, too.