Mookie Betts is feeling like Mookie Betts again.
Last spring, the Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop lost almost 20 pounds due to a stomach illness that trickled into the season. It impacted his bat speed, his overall strength and mindset, and contributed to his worst offensive year to date—breaking his streak of eight straight MLB All-Star Game appearances. He managed through it, still clubbed 20 home runs, and helped the Dodgers take home their second consecutive World Series, starting a double play in Game 7 that would seal the victory over the Blue Jays.
This year, things have been different. Throughout Spring Training, he’s welcomed his third child (the primary reason for not participating in the World Baseball Classic), regained all the weight and bat speed he lost last season, and begun a new training regimen with Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto's trainer Osamu Yada (known to players on the team as “Yada Sensei”) to help get his body prepared for the grind ahead.
And now, Betts has just begun an exclusive collaboration with DITA, the luxury eyewear brand, with two different sunglass styles built for sports-driven performance. Most athletes slip into the familiar mantra: “Look good, feel good—feel good, play good.” But Betts is happy to flip it. He’s feeling better than he ever has, and now gets to match it with his eyewear. “They didn't make that very hard on me,” he says of DITA.
Ahead of Opening Day, Betts spoke with Complex about his busy spring, which included watching the World Baseball Classic, adjusting to a new ABS system, and getting motivated to three-peat with the Dodgers for the first time since the Yankees accomplished the feat in 2000.
Did you get a chance to watch the World Baseball Classic final? What did you make of the tournament this year?
Yeah, I definitely watched all the USA games. Shoot, if I wasn't playing, I was pretty much watching. So it was great. I loved the passion that was there. I thought it was done really well.
There was a lot of conversation around Team USA this tournament. It’s hard to compare the passion of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, but what did you make of the way Team USA was perceived? Is there an American baseball culture?
I don't exactly know what American baseball culture is. It's hard to kind of pinpoint because different people show their passions and their emotions differently. Obviously the Latin, Spanish cultures show it more outwardly with cheering and whatnot, which is not not wrong by any means. Team USA doesn't necessarily show it as outwardly, but that doesn't mean [we’re] not as passionate and don't love the game. We care the same way other countries do—we just show it differently. And so it's just like anything else. There's more than one way to skin a cat and I think that our way isn't necessarily wrong. It may not be super fun and exciting when you hit a homer and then you have the whole bench jumping and screaming, which is obviously a lot of fun. I love that. But it doesn't mean we don't care about the home run. There are just different perspectives on it. If you ask anybody that played the WBC, it’s probably the best experience they've had playing baseball.
Was there a moment you wished you had experienced in the dugout this year?
I wanted to be there the whole time. I would have been there, but I couldn't miss the birth of my child. And I didn't want to leave the boys hanging. [If] my baby comes and I have to miss a game, that's not fair to the guys. I don't want to do that. But if there was a time to be in the dugout, that Dominican game—even though it wasn't as fun and exciting as everybody was hoping…I'm sure people wanted to see a bunch of home runs or a 10-9 game. But I think that was just a well-played baseball game around the board. A 2-1 game like that is a very good baseball game. Being there would have been nice.
A year ago you were dealing with a stomach illness throughout the spring. I know you've talked about how much it impacted your bat speed and strength. What was the hardest part of dealing with something like that out of your control?
Just that. It’s out of your control and just coming to terms with it. I wasn't really sulking and wondering: “Why me?” It was just more that the road back was so long and hard and how to go about it in the middle of a season. I've never done that—never had to do it. It wasn't like I could draw from experience on how to get through it. And then, nobody really gets sick to that magnitude and then comes back. So it wasn't like I was able to ask around to see how to get through it. That was the part that sucked the most.
How would you describe the way your spring has felt compared to last year overall?
Oh, it's been great. It's been excellent. My body feels good. My brain is good. Those two are good. The game is going to be the game, but as long as I'm prepared for the game, then I think we should be okay.
I've read that you have a unique morning stretch routine now and are working with Yoshinobu Yamamoto's trainer. What does that all entail, and why did you decide to shake things up from a training perspective?
It entails a lot. Probably an extra 30 to 40 minutes added on to the day, which is good. It's all good stuff to make sure my body feels good, to make sure my brain is good, to make sure everything is in the right spot it needs to be before the game starts. I was already working with Sensei, so it wasn't like I just found this new thing. This is really just level two. I was on level one and now I'm progressing into level two. It’s nothing that I just saw and was like, “Oh, I want to try this.” It's like, “Nah, this is more, “I'm progressing in this training.”
What is your impression of the ABS system so far? Is there a team philosophy about how players should use it? Or is it arbitrary and up to you?
I think it's good. It's fair. I'm sure pitchers are saying it's not fair. But there's going to be two sides to every coin. Strikes are strikes. Balls are balls. As far as using it, you’ve just got to use it however. I'm sure different teams have different philosophies with it, but it's tough to really say. I haven't used it over a period of time and I haven't been in late game situations when you needed it. And then, early in the game, especially Spring Training, you just don't see a lot of guys use it just because guys are getting their work in. So I don't have a whole lot of experience with it.
Do you feel like you have a strong enough concept of the strike zone where you'd be confident whenever you decide to use it?
Yeah, for sure, but I mean, someone like myself, I don't mind. There's three strikes, so I'm not overly worried about it. I’d rather Shohei or Freddie or somebody of that nature use them when they need it. For me, I'm fine. I'll be OK.
The Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series. What is the mood of this team right now? I can imagine with a team that's won a couple championships that players start to lose a little focus or there's less of a unified direction. Is there a collective motivation to three-peat?
I would say it's the complete opposite. Literally the complete opposite. I think we're more hungry than we were last year, to be honest.
How so?
Because how many times in your life, in your career, do you have history like this in front of you? Rarely, if ever. And so I think we all understand that. We embrace it. We're not trying to run away from it and say, “Oh, no, it's the same.” It's not the same, and we understand that. And we embrace that. The only way we're going to be able to achieve history, to achieve a goal like this is to stay hungry, to stay on the attack. We have a group full of guys that understand that. And, actually, we think it's kind of fun. It's a pleasure, it's a privilege, to have this kind of history and pressure in front of you. We enjoy it.
With the looming labor negotiations next year threatening the sport, does this season feel even more heightened or offer more motivation?
No, I don't even think anybody's even thinking about that, to be honest. I mean, it is what it is. There's nothing we can do about that right now. The only thing we can do is focus on the task at hand, and that's winning today.
The clip of your glove being grabbed at by Yankees fans in the 2024 World Series has been making its rounds on social media again. Did that moment change the way that you perceive fans in opposing stadiums or impacted your decision to interact with certain fans?
No, I can't let that affect what Dodgers fans, especially, bring to the table—with the love and the passion, with everything. I don't want to let one bad apple spoil the bunch. As far as Dodgers fans, I mean, they love us. They care about us. And I think that was just kind of a one-off. So I'm not really too concerned with that.
As long as they're not grabbing at your sunglasses.
Yeah, exactly. Sunglasses have got to stay on!
