The Hitting Vault Swing Analysis: Mookie Betts

The Hitting Vault Swing Analysis: Mookie Betts

Mookie Betts won the American League Most Valuable Player award with the Red Sox in 2018 due to his stellar defense and his ability to hit not only for average but also power. He’s on the hunt for another MVP, this time with the LA Dodgers, currently hitting .303, 16 homeruns, and 13 doubles, and 39 rbis.  What’s important to note is while the average MLB player is 6 feet tall, 207 lbs, Betts is only 5 foot 9 and 180 pounds. He hits for both power and average not because of his size, but his ability to create tension and then move his body in the correct sequence.

Mookie Betts Swing Analysis from The Hitting Vault

At The Hitting Vault, our members have the ability to submit a video to us for swing analysis. Our Hitting Coach Alexa Peterson breaks down swings and provides specific drills for our members to unlock their power.

On our Youtube channel we have a number of swing analysis breakdowns on professional hitters and coaches have found them very valuable in sharing with their players. Here’s a video breakdown of Betts from a couple years back, but he hasn’t had any noticeable changes to his swing. We’ve added recent images of his swing in the rest of the article.

Finding Comfort

Looking at Mookie Betts’ stance, he is pretty upright and tall. Every stance is unique, it’s about comfort. For younger kids, it’s easiest to not have a drastic starting stance like some of the all-time favorites below, but having a more neutral stance like Betts. Mookie feels more comfortable in this position before the pitch is thrown, but as the opposing pitcher, Gerrit Cole begins his windup. Check out this blog post for the top 5 mistakes hitters make in their stance.

Lock and Load

As Betts begins his load, his bat moves from horizontal to more vertical, his front shoulder begins to work down and in, and his back shoulder works up. This is creating coil-like tension in the load of his swing which will ultimately open up an immense amount of power. Betts loads into his back hip without shifting all his weight outside his back foot. He is essentially gathering his body in preparation to move forward into his strides. He begins to move forward and gets into his stride as Cole releases the ball. As he strides forward he maintains tension in his swing by keeping his hands up and back as the rest of his body moves forward into his launch position. If you can maintain posture at to launch position, that will be the key.

Launch Position

Launch position is when the front heel hits. The picture below depicts Mookie Betts in his launch position. His numbers showing are a good indicator, he has his lower half beginning to unlock and release to the ball, while his upper half is still held back towards the plate and the catcher. This is the ideal separation between his hips and his shoulders. Be careful that you are not teaching young athletes to over rotate and force numbers to show, this will create bad habits of bat wrapping.

Couple things to note that are important in a good launch position:

  • Front shoulder down and in
  • Eyes, Nose and chin in a straight line above the front shoulder
  • Knob of the bat down toward the catcher
  • Hip hinge (eyes over the toes)
  • Bottom hand elbow angle greater than 90 degrees
  • Back leg angled slightly in
  • Front knee has some bend
  • Feet around 50-60% of the hitter’s height

Launch Position

Hips Don’t Lie

In the same picture above it is important to note that Betts’ hips are starting to unlock. Every athlete will be different with hip mobility and flexibility, but it just goes to show how important to the swing the hips are. Betts is keeping his front shoulder down and in at about a 45-degree angle, and his hips are starting to unload. Trying to get young hitters to open their hips will help develop power as long as the upper body has not started to unwind yet.

Point of Contact

Betts recognizes the 3-1 outside fastball and decides to pull the trigger. In going after an outside fastball, he creates a lot of tilt in his torso, while keeping his bat and wrists strong. What we mean by that is that he is not staying upright and dropping his barrel or wrists to reach for the pitch. He’s taking the same swing that he would on a middle fastball, but adjusting it for an outside pitch. His barrel continues to work behind him from more vertical to more horizontal, as he tries to drive the outside fastball. He gets his barrel to a strong contact position, palm up – palm down.

mookie-betts-swing-analysis-4

Having strong wrists at the point of contact is essential to putting the ball in play hard. Betts’ belt buckle is facing the pitcher before the point of contact, further emphasizing the need to unlock the hips before hitting the ball. He is able to have his hips move without “pulling his head” or “flying out” because he maintains his hip hinge through his swing.

Pulling your head typically is because the hitters doesn’t have hip hinge at launch position or loses their hip hinge or tilt early in their swing. This results in a bat path that is in and out of the zone quickly rather than on plane for a long period of time. Betts tattooed this ball off the wall in center field for a double.

Mookie Betts Side Views

In order to fully understand this swing, we need to see it from multiple angles. The Mookie Betts swing from the side is just as pretty as it is from the front. The photos below are during his load and stride. As he moves forward, he keeps his hands back almost as if he’s stepping away from his hands, creating that separation between his hips and barrel. His front shoulder is working down and in while his hips begin to open just a little to create that good torque. He keeps that posture in his launch position.

First Move After Launch

Betts’ shoulders have now switched. His back shoulder is now starting to work lower than his front shoulder creating. This allows him to get on plane early with the pitch instead of pulling his front shoulder immediately out towards 3rd base dugout. That would cause him to work around the ball.

First move after launch

Bat Lag and Extension

Mookie Betts has great bat lag. Bat lag is technically when the end of the bat is angled back towards the catcher. Often times we will see hitters throw their hands out towards the other batter’s box in this position, working around the ball instead of staying more tight. His back foot is also becoming weightless at the point of contact, indicating a weight shift from his backside, adding momentum to and through the ball. Betts remains on plane to and through the point of contact, showing incredible barrel control. At the point of contact, he looks like he was fooled just a little bit, as the pitch was a little further out than he expected. He is locked out with his front arm, causing him to reach a little bit, but he still squared it up and hit a missile.

Finally, Betts’ extension is fantastic here. The extension is a bi-product of how your barrel works through the zone, he is not trying to push his barrel towards the pitcher with his hands. The barrel extending outwards is a result of the front hip “slamming on the breaks” aka decleration. Slamming on the breaks, causes the hands and barrel to continue moving forward.

Mookie Betts has a picture-esque swing for hitters to look at. He is not a big strong guy like Aaron Judge, or Giancarlo Stanton, but he still produces. Betts has all the tools in the set, and perhaps his two most prominent are his ability to hit for average and hit for power. The guy makes the most of what he has with his physical stature and maximizes his ability to hit in his swing. Betts has the unique ability to unlock his power and hit to all fields through creating good separation, using his lower half, and driving the baseball to all fields.

FREE 1 Hour Coaching Clinic w/ MLB Hitting CoachWatch Clinic Now