When it was announced that 28-year-old Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts had been named to the 2021 National League All-Star team, there were a good many upset Dodger fans; not that the extremely popular Nashville, TN native and fifth-round draft pick in 2011 by the Boston Red Sox out of Overton High School isn’t among the very best in the game today, but upset that a guy with a first-half slash line of .256/.366/.472/.839 would even be considered an All-Star.

“I was surprised,” Betts answered when asked about his fifth All-Star Game selection. “Obviously, I haven’t played that great, so yeah, I was definitely surprised. But also very thankful for making the team again. Definitely was surprised.”

As he should be.

In fact, when asked what he thought of his first half, Betts acknowledged that it was anything but All-Star worthy.

“Bad. This would be bad,” Betts said. “We have another half, trying to turn it around and get things rolling and help the team get some more wins.”

As you would expect, when told Betts’ first-half self-assessment, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts immediately came to the defense of his (now) five-time All-Star right fielder.

“I think ‘bad’ is very strong, but I do like the expectation because it’s all relative, and when you’re talking about a player of his caliber, the bar is certainly higher and rightfully so,” Roberts said. “But what I will say is a lot of the things that us as an organization value as far as an overall ballplayer, things that are under the hood, things that really kind of project and see how we see the rest of the season playing out, are all really good. They line up.

“So I expect him to continue to get going and to, I guess as he put it, not be ‘bad’ for much longer. He’s a winning player, and we wouldn’t be where we’re at without him, so he’s an easy guy to bet on.”

Although he didn’t have to do so and much to his credit, Betts opted out of the 91st annual Midsummer Classic, citing his desire to use the four days off to allow several nagging injuries to heal.

It worked.

In his first game back from the All-Star break and on the very field at which it was held, Betts went 3-for-5, with two runs scored and an RBI at mile-high Coors Field in Denver in the Dodgers 10-4 pounding of the NL West fourth-place Colorado Rockies, including his team-leading 22nd double of the season.

Welcome back, Mookie! We’ve missed you.

Play Ball!

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