Mookie Betts is better than Ted Williams.
Easy now.
What we're talking about is three-home run games, and in that respect Betts is better than the legend. He notched the fourth three-homer game of his career with three shots over the left field wall during the Red Sox' 5-4 win over the Royals, passing Ted for the most such games in Red Sox history. This time around two of the three homers were the longest of his career. (For a complete recap, click here.)
"I felt great," Betts said after the game. "Just a day game, try to get my body ready. I had to come in and do a couple of other things but I felt great running around and everything."
But it's moments like this, and like we've already had this season, that makes you wonder what we're watching here in Betts.
Through the first month-plus of games, he is neck-and-neck with Didi Gregorius for the conversation for the best player of this season. With his three homers -- all coming against Kansas City's Danny Duffy -- he becomes the first player to total 11 homers, with his OPS flying past his Yankees counterpart, now sitting at 1.274.
And along the way you have Baltimore manager Buck Showalter calling Betts the best right fielder he has ever seen.
It has become somewhat baffling how good this guy has become at the age of 25 years old.
"Well, that was obviously a great performance," manager Alex Cora said. "The last one, a pitch up in the zone, able to get the hands above it and drill it, that was impressive. He's doing an outstanding job being ready to hit from the get-go and setting the tempo for the team."
Betts staying at this level might be a reach, but it's also hard to imagine him falling too far off. We do have last season to juxtapose this run against, during which the outfielder seemed somewhat befuddled by the struggles that landed his batting average at .264. (We should remember he was hitting .311 on May 10.)
But there aren't a lot of players you really don't blink an eye at when they completely take over a game. That's what happened in this series finale, and nary an eye was blinked. Just another tip of the chapeau and the expecation that something similar isn't going to be that far off.
Even @mookiebetts couldn't have caught this one!This 452-foot shot over the Green Monster is the @RedSox star's longest HR since #Statcast began tracking in 2015. pic.twitter.com/WxBA7yQQnn
— #Statcast (@statcast) May 2, 2018Drew Pomeranz had his most encouraging start of the season, giving up three runs over six innings. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the outing -- other than the lefty rebounding giving up three runs in the first two innings -- was his increased velocity. Pomeranz's last pitch registered at 92 mph, with the fastball hovering around 90 mph for much of the day.
