What He Said (He Being Grant Brisbee, On Mookie Betts)

Grant Brisbee, SB Nation:

It's Hard To Watch Mookie Betts And Think Baseball Is In Trouble

Start by making a back-of-the-envelope list of everything you love about baseball. ... There's the immediate thrill of an obvious home run, and there's the moment where you realize that the single might be a double, or when a double might be a triple. There's the ball in the gap, hanging, hanging, hanging, with someone gliding underneath it, and there's the cat-and-mouse game of a runner on first with two outs. ...

In 2018, Betts did the things that make baseball exciting more often than anyone in baseball. Heck, more often than almost anyone who has ever played baseball. And we haven't even brought up the defense yet.

I still think about this play often:



That's not Justin Bour trying to stretch a single into a double. That's a fast runner trying to stretch a should-be double into a stand-up double. There's a school of thought that says that Kemp should get fined in kangaroo court for trying to take an extra base with a three-run deficit, but there's another, smarter school of thought that says human beings shouldn't make that play. ...

There are three players 5'10" or shorter who have been worth more than 10 wins in a season in the last 50 years, according to Baseball-Reference's WAR: Willie Mays, Joe Morgan, and Mookie Betts. That is, two of the greatest baseball players ever and a wait-and-see marvel who certainly isn't on the wrong path. ...

Betts is proof that baseball is a sport of reaction time and form, and it will forever value rapidly firing neurons and pitch detection as much as it values raw athleticism. When you get a near-perfect combination of neurons and muscles, like Betts, you have a super-player to celebrate. ...

He runs better than your favorite baseball player. He hits better. He catches better. He throws better. He bowls 300 games. ... He's a remarkable talent and a living brochure of what it really takes to thrive at this sport. Here's a player who does everything — everything — well ...

Just look at the dude play. This is how much fun it is to watch a player who can do everything well...