If You Fall Behind Mookie Betts, He's Almost Certainly Going To Make You Pay

Here’s a note to all you Major League Baseball pitchers out there: If you fall behind in the count to Mookie Betts, it might be best just to walk him.

The Boston Red Sox outfielder formally launched his American League MVP campaign Sunday by hitting three home runs and driving in eight runs in Boston’s 16-2 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Entering play Monday, Betts ranks third in MLB in wins above replacement (6.6), third in runs scored (91), second in hits (154), first in total bases (276), second in doubles (34), tied for ninth in RBIs (84) and first in extra-base hits (65).

Betts took full advantage of one of the worst starts in Zack Greinke’s career Sunday, clobbering two home runs off the former Cy Young Award winner.

One thing that stands out is that those two home runs came on 2-0 pitches. Upon further review, it should come as no surprise that Betts did damage in that count.

Big league hitters obviously have a lot of success ahead in the count, especially 2-0 counts, one of the best hitting counts there is. So you obviously would expect hitters to see a huge spike in their numbers when hitting in that count.

But with Betts, the jump is out of this world. After Sunday, the Red Sox outfielder is hitting an absurd .857 (12-for-14) when swinging and putting the ball in play on 2-0 counts.

Here’s what he’s done in 2-0 counts this season.

.857 batting average (12-for-14)
four home runs
five doubles
10 RBIs
2.857 OPS

To put that in some sort of perspective, fellow MVP candidate Jose Altuve is hitting .571 (8-for-14) in 2-0 counts, while David Ortiz is hitting .286 when putting the ball in play on 2-0 counts.

Betts’ numbers when ahead in the count overall are what you’d expect, too. He’s’ hitting .354 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs with a 1.295 OPS when he’s got the advantage.

Again, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. When pitchers fall behind in counts, they rely on the fastball to get them back in the count. Betts has some of the quickest hands in all of baseball, which means he’s perfectly capable of turning around even the best fastballs.

Don’t believe us? Here’s Betts’ ESPN Hot Zone map for against fastballs in any and all counts.

Betts1 Oh, and here’s what he does against fastballs when he’s ahead in the count.

Betts2 Again, there’s nothing ground-breaking here, and Betts obviously hits well in just about any count. He wouldn’t be one of the best offensive players in baseball this season if he couldn’t hit anything but a fastball or struggled in any count but 2-0.