Mookie Betts has made quite the mid-season turnaround.
Despite being named to the 2019 American League All-Star team, the Boston Red Sox right fielder was averaging just .260 at the plate heading into the month of July. Betts now sports a .283 average, batting .370 with a 1.028 OPS through 20 July games entering Friday’s contest against the New York Yankees (during which he launched three home runs in the first four innings).
This marked improvement is thanks largely in part to an adjustment made to his swing, according to Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers, who explained what changed to The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey.
“Instead of working down and back and then back up, just working down at an angle back and tighten that up a little bit,” Hyers said. “I think that was the first thing that helped him out: Shorten some things up, but allow his hands to work. Then there’s some cosmetic things he’s been tinkering with to stay through the ball.
“He was keeping his hands higher to allow it to sync up a little faster. He does it for a little while then falls back into his bad habits. It’s ongoing. You focus in on one area, but you’re always kind of keeping your eye out because the body wants to go back to a comfort level. And the comfort level is not working for you.”
No matter how they got there, we’re just glad to have some Mookie magic back. And we’re sure the rest of Red Sox Nation feels the same way.
