True five-tool players are extremely rare in baseball. Every once in a while, the MLB is gifted with a guy who can do it all: someone who can hit for average, hit for power, field at the highest level, throw, and run fast. In today’s MLB, I can think of only two true five-tool players: Mookie Betts and Mike Trout. Of the two, Mookie Betts is playing better baseball right now, but will he be able to sustain this high level of play long enough to hoist himself over Trout as the best player in baseball?
Betts’ relentless bat has been performing at a level that nobody’s seen for decades; in 30 games, he’s slashing .355/.818/1.252 (all best in MLB) with 13 HR (first in MLB), 26 RBIs as a leadoff batter (11th in MLB) and 36 runs scored (first in MLB). Mookie is tied for the most home runs (13) through the first 33 games in Red Sox history (Fred Lynn, 1979). He’s also stolen 3 bases on 4 attempts and has a 1.000 fielding percentage in RF.
In the MLB in the last 50 years, here’s the list of players who have hit at least the same number of home runs as times they’ve struck out (min 13 HR): Mookie Betts (2018) with 13 HR and 13 K; Barry Bonds (2004) with 45 HR and 41 K; George Brett (1980) with 24 HR and 22 K. End of list.
Betts’ slugging percentage (.818) is better than the OPS’s of Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, George Springer, and Jose Abreu. For perspective, if a batter hit a single every time he stepped into the box, his slugging percentage would be 1.000, and Mookie Betts’ slugging percentage in his last 53 ABs is 1.094. Obviously it’s only May, but if Betts were to continue on this pace, he’d be swinging the bat at a pace only Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth could rival.
Unfortunately for Sox fans, it’s highly unlikely that Mookie will keep up his torrent pace (he’s currently slated to hit 62 HR and 124 RBI). However, the question that’s begun to surface is whether he even has to continue this production if he wants to be the MLB’s best ballplayer.
ESPN’s MLB Insider Buster Olney tweeted earlier today:
“An NL evaluator said the other day he thinks Mookie Betts is the AL's best player” (Buster_ESPN/Twitter)
I’d hate to go against a Major League scout, but in my eyes Mike Trout is undoubtedly not only the best player in the AL, but the best player in baseball, and it’s likely that he will be for the foreseeable future. However, with Mookie’s amazing play as of late, it’ll be interesting to see these two excellent five-tool players duke it out for the AL throne in the long, bright future.
(Statistics via Baseball Reference)
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