Wake Up With Mookie Betts Hitting Three Home Runs Against The Diamondbacks

In 2016 Markus Lynn Betts became the first player since Albert Pujols in 2006 to record multiple 3 homer games in the same year. Mookie's first hat trick came back on May 31st against the Orioles, which was part of a two game stretch where Betts hit five long balls. The second time was from the video above on August 14th against the Diamondbacks. This was just a few days after he made the move from leadoff to the middle of the order. Since Xander Bogaerts was in the middle of a second half slump this is when Mookie established himself as the best young player on the Red Sox and a legit MVP contender.

Betts finished the year with 31 homers, nearly doubling his 2015 total of 18. One concern moving forward would be his 2016 home run to fly ball ratio of 10.5% was much higher than his rates from the previous two years (6.1%, 6.5%). This may mean he was getting a little lucky with some fly balls that were leaving the park, but it could also just be the contributed development of a young hitter. Mookie contributes in so many other areas of the game (.318 batting average, 26 stolen bases, league leader in defensive runs saved)  that even if his homer output slips to the mid 20s he'll still be in the conversation as the second best position player in baseball.