LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers have star and firepower all throughout their lineup, but the Seoul of the team continues to be Mookie Betts.

The 2023 Silver Slugger Award winner has been on a tear to start the 2024 campaign.

Mookie Going Crazy To Start Season 

In the first five games of the season, entering his Easter Sunday contest, Betts batted 611, with four home runs, 10 RBI, an on-base percentage of .720, and a slugging percentage of 1.389.

He currently has more home runs than swings and misses, and has homered in his last four straight games.

“He’s locked in, he’s seeing the ball well, he’s got balance all the way through his swing” manager Dave Roberts had to say on how Betts has been playing.

The boys in blue always have high expectations, but after winning 100 games and completely flaming out last year, this year feels a bit different. They made so much noise in the offseason, so it is certainly a championship or bust season.

After last postseason’s woes, this year has a redemption feel to it for several players on the team, and Betts is at the top of that list. He didn’t record a single hit in the Dodgers three postseason games, and only got on base once with a walk.

With that sour taste in his mouth from last year’s ending, Betts is eager to show he’s still the same old Mookie in 2024.

“Just to be the best Mookie Betts I can be. To go and show that I’m still good. That I can compete through the season and through playoffs. I know I didn’t do well, obviously, last playoffs and so I want to get back to where I can compete when it’s crunch time, prove to everyone and also prove to myself that I can do it. And I believe in myself,” Betts said in an interview last month with SportsNet LA.

Mookie Betts Is In Early MVP Form 

So far, the 31-year-old is showing early that he can still do it. He leads the league in home runs, RBI, hits with 11, runs scored with nine, and walks with seven.

While Betts has been his normal self at plate, it’s been a little different for him out on the field.

Even though Betts has brought home six Gold Gloves for his work in the outfield, Roberts said in December of last year that Betts would be playing second base regularly in 2024, but it was later announced in early March that he would instead be playing shortstop rather than second.

Betts was originally drafted as a second baseman, so playing the middle of the infield has always come naturally to him. His workload in the infield slowly but surely increased throughout last season, and management clearly liked what they saw and want Betts to be there everyday.

There’s no one who wants to erase last year’s nightmare more than Betts, and even though the season is very young, he’s playing like a man on a mission. If this is the Mookie Betts that we’ll see throughout this year, he may be adding a lot of hardware to his already loaded trophy case.