Dodgers’ Mookie Betts Reveals Surprising Cause for Brutal Slump

The Los Angeles Dodgers earned a win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday and it came with an encouraging performance from a long-struggling superstar.

Breaking a career-long, five-game, 22 at-bat hitless streak, shortstop Mookie Betts recorded three hits in what the team surely hopes is the start of a turnaround from a slump that has plagued him all season. Betts has slashed just .236/.308/.361 so far this year in his worst season as a professional from the plate.

As the Dodgers have sought answers for Betts’ woes, numerous theories about the cause for his slump have been floated. He opened the year with a harsh stomach bug that resulted in some significant weight loss. He experienced a toe injury that could have thrown off his timing. And he’s taking over the everyday shortstop role for the first time in his career.

But Betts has now revealed his own theory for the cause: a hand injury that he suffered last season.

“Think about it,” Betts told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. “Go and look at it. I haven’t been right since.”

Betts was struck on the hand in a win over the Kansas City Royals in June of last year and it did seem to end a significant hot streak. He was batting .304 at that point, was sidelined for nearly two months with a fracture, then returned to bat .263 before the slump resumed this season.

While Betts noted that he has struggled since that injury, he also pointed out that his grip measures as even stronger than it was before the fracture and that he’s at a loss on how to overcome the problem. But as he searches for answers, even after pinpointing a new potential cause, he is continuing to focus on the one thing he can control by putting in as much work as possible before and after games.

“Betts might not have yet figured out the adjustments required from him to break out of his slump, but he’s also not out of ideas,” Hernandez added. “He acknowledged he’s purposely sounded more clueless than he actually is in order to avoid discussing changes he’s trying to implement.”

After revealing that his troubles at the plate actually stretch back further than many might think, Betts is understandably desperate for a solution. He and the Dodgers can hope something was unlocked against the Cardinals as he continues to adjust.

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