Ex-Red Sox Mookie Betts Explains Questionable Home Run Derby Decision

It’s unlikely that we’ll ever witness Mookie Betts participating in the Home Run Derby again, but that doesn’t mean the 30-year-old is done reflecting on what he’s now considering a regrettable decision.

Betts finished dead last, hitting just 11 home runs in the first round at T-Mobile Park in Seattle during the All-Star festivities. And while doing so, the former Red Sox star outfielder committed to one particularly questionable course of action: not taking his break in-between the round, which Betts explained simply and bluntly.

“My theory was the third swing in, I knew I had no chance,” Betts explained on the “Foul Territory” podcast. “So, after that, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna keep going. If I get tired, then I may debate taking the timeout.’ J.D. (Martinez) was actually yelling behind me, telling me to take the timeout. And I was just trying to save everybody’s misery. I didn’t want all the pity party and all that stuff, so I was just like, ‘You know what? Let’s just get it over with.'”

The end result was right on par with the odds that Betts entered the derby attached with — tied for last among all eight participants with Adley Rutschman.

While it was stunning to see Betts — a World Series champion and well-known bowling stud — not flourish at something athletically, very few would’ve managed to hang around with the likes of Julio Rodríguez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

“The Home Run Derby was probably the worst idea I’ve had in a long time,” Betts said. “I’m just not built that way. I know how to hit line drives, and occasionally they go over the fence. … I’m just not built that way. It’s for the big boys, it’s for the big boys, for sure.”

Betts didn’t completely shut the door on a redemption shot at the derby, however, despite leaning heavily toward staying away from it for the remainder of his career.

“If my son wants me to, I’ll probably give him a strong case for no, but I’m convincible,” Betts shared. “I’m convincible, only from him though.”