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Mookie Betts is openly acknowledging what the numbers have been screaming all season — his natural ability is declining, and the adjustment process has been painful. Per staff at DodgerBlue.com, the Dodgers’ shortstop has struggled mightily through 122 at-bats in 2026, dealing with both mechanical changes at the plate and the lingering effects of an early-season right oblique strain. Betts has tried to maintain a positive outlook, but the reality of what he’s going through is hard to ignore.

Betts, who turned 33 last October, is one of the most decorated players of his generation. He won the AL MVP with Boston in 2018 and has been a perennial All-Star since arriving in Los Angeles ahead of the 2020 season. He earned his second MVP-caliber season in 2024 when he was in the thick of the NL race before a hand injury altered his trajectory. Throughout his career, Betts has been the kind of player who could beat you in every phase of the game — at the plate, on the bases, in the field. That’s what makes this current stretch so jarring. When a player whose game is built on elite hand-eye coordination and bat speed starts losing those tools, the fallout is immediate and visible. A .122 at-bat sample is still relatively small, but the underlying issues — reworked mechanics, an oblique injury that likely sapped some of his explosiveness — suggest this isn’t just a cold streak.

The oblique strain is particularly relevant here. Oblique injuries are notoriously tricky for hitters because the muscle group is central to rotational power. Even after a player is cleared to return, it can take weeks or longer to fully trust the swing again. For someone like Betts, who is already navigating the natural erosion of bat speed that comes in a player’s mid-30s, layering an oblique issue on top of that creates a compounding problem. He’s essentially trying to rebuild his swing while his body isn’t giving him the same feedback it used to.

What stands out is that Betts isn’t hiding from this. He’s talking about it honestly, which tracks with everything we know about him as a person and a competitor. He’s not making excuses — he’s identifying the problem and trying to work through it. That said, candor doesn’t fix the lineup card. The Dodgers need Betts to produce, and right now he’s a drain on an offense that can absorb a slump from most guys but not from someone batting near the top of the order with his salary attached.

For the Dodgers, this is a situation that requires patience — but patience with limits. Betts has earned every bit of rope this organization can give him, and his track record suggests he’ll figure something out eventually. But “eventually” is a luxury you can only afford when the rest of the roster is healthy and performing, and with Will Smith now on the IL and the trade deadline still weeks away, the margin for carrying a struggling Betts is thinner than it would normally be. If his timing doesn’t come back in the next few weeks, the conversation shifts from “he’ll be fine” to “what adjustments can we make around him.” I don’t think we’re anywhere close to panic mode — this is Mookie Betts — but the fact that he’s framing this as a decline issue rather than a slump issue is something we should all be paying close attention to.

Source(s): Staff (DodgerBlue.com) | First reported: June 11, 2026 3:14 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers