Man of many talents, Mookie adds coach’s assistant to list

MIAMI — Mookie Betts swapped roles when Team USA took the sector for pregame warmups on Saturday and Sunday at loanDepot park. While his teammates have been dispersed across the infield, the star outfielder stood alongside his coaches to help in ground-ball drills as they ready for World Baseball Classic competitors. 

“Usually I’m taking [the ground balls], but the last couple of days I wasn’t,” Betts instructed MLB.com on Sunday previous to USA’s semifinals matchup with Cuba. “So, I figured I’d help them.”

Betts received concerned within the routine in Miami when he discovered himself with further time throughout his pregame schedule. He noticed a chance to help. Betts has helped first-base coach Lou Collier and third-base coach Dino Ebel, who is also Betts’ third-base coach on the Dodgers.

On Saturday, forward of USA’s comeback win over Venezuela within the quarterfinals, Betts stepped contained in the cage and handed off baseballs from a cart positioned behind house plate. The following afternoon, he stood exterior the first-base line, caught the balls as they have been thrown in from first base and tossed them off to be hit again into play.

Betts – a two-time World Series champion, 2018 AL MVP and batting title winner, six-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove Award winner and five-time Silver Slugger Award winner – clearly has a laundry checklist of accolades to his identify, and but he was blissful so as to add pregame assistant to his resume.

“They do everything they can to help us,” Betts stated of Team USA’s teaching workers. “So whenever I have the time, I’ll make sure I help them.”