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About

Mookie Betts promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket

By
June 3, 2014

The Boston Red Sox today will promote heralded prospect Mookie Betts to Pawtucket from Double-A Portland. Betts, 21, will join the PawSox tonight when they open a 4-game series in Durham against the Durham Bulls. The PawSox return to McCoy Stadium to begin an 8-game homestand this Saturday night when they host Louisville at 6:05 pm.

Betts was hitting .355 in 54 games for Portland this season playing 40 games at 2B, 12 games in the OF (all in CF - and all of those coming since May 18) along with 2 games as the DH. He was among the Eastern League leaders (and overall Minor League Baseball leaders) in a host of offensive categories.

Mookie's .355 batting average led the Eastern League and is 6th best in all of Minor League Baseball. He also led the Eastern League in both hits (76) and runs (56) which are 4th most and 2nd most in MiLB respectively. As of June 3rd he ranks in the Top 4 in the Eastern League in these categories as well…2nd in stolen bases (22), 2nd in doubles (18), 2nd in walks (35), 2nd in on-base pct. (.443), T3rd in extra base hits (27), 4th in total bases (118), and 4th in slugging pct. (.551). Betts also has the Best SO/BB Ratio in all of Minor League Baseball (20 SO compared to 35 BB) along with the Lowest TPA/SO Ratio in the Eastern League (12.65).

Betts began this season red hot as he batted .430 in 22 games in April and was hitting over .400 through mid-May (.401 on May 15 which led the minors). He fell to .347 (incredibly his season-low) on May 30 but then went 6-for-12 with a 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, and 5 runs scored in his final three games with Portland to get back to .355. He batted lead-off in all 54 of his games with the Sea Dogs

Defensively, Betts began the year exclusively at second base before making his first professional start in the outfield (CF) on May 18. Since that point he has played 12 of his last 17 games in CF. All 4 of his errors this season have come while playing second base (his last error came on May 11). Since joining the Red Sox organization in 2011 (for one game with the Gulf Coast Rookie Red Sox in 2011), Betts has played 224 games at 2B, 14 games at SS (none since 2012 with Lowell), and 12 in the outfield (all in CF for Portland this season).

Some Mookie notes from this season with Portland…He reached base safely in 66 straight regular season games (71 including the Carolina League playoffs last September) from August 2, 2013 through May 16, 2014 before it was snapped on May 17 (0-for-4 but with 2 RBI vs. Trenton)…He reached base 112 times in 54 games for Portland including four times in a game 11 different times and five times twice (May 22 & 24)…He reached base safely in his first 35 Double-A games and hit safely in 44 of his 54 games with the Sea Dogs with 23 multi-hit games…Betts put together a 17-game hitting streak from April 9-30 (longest by a Portland player since 2004) at a .432 clip (32-for-74)…He scored a run in 13 straight games from April 9-26 and scored at least one run in 35 of his 54 games…Mookie led off the 2014 season with a HR on April 3 at Reading as he went 4-for-4 in his Double-A debut….And he had a walk-off 2-run triple on May 22 vs. Binghamton as he went 1-for-1 with 4 walks in that game.   

Betts, who won't turn 22 until October 7, will be the youngest player on the current PawSox roster and the youngest player to appear in the International League this season. Last June 14, INF Xander Bogaerts became the 2nd youngest position player ever to appear for the PawSox at 20 years, 8 months, and 13 days young. SS Glenn Hoffman was 19 years, 1 month and 25 days old (young) when he made his PawSox debut on September 1, 1977. RHP Jeff Suppan was 20 years, 8 months, and 1 day old when he made his PawSox pitching debut on August 3, 1995.

The 5'9", 156 lbs. Betts was Boston's 5th round pick in the 2011 June draft out of John Overton High School in Brentwood, Tennessee. The first four picks in that draft by the Red Sox were RHP Matt Barnes, C Blake Swihart, LHP Henry Owens, and OF Jackie Bradley, Jr. Betts split the 2013 season between Greenville (low-A) and Salem (high-A) batting a combined .314 with 36 2B, 4 3B, 15 HR, 65 RBI, 81 BB, and 38 SB in 127 games. Those numbers earned him Red Sox Offensive Player of the Year honors and a spot on Baseball America's Minor League All-Star 2nd Team. He capped his stellar 2013 season by leading the Salem Red Sox to the Carolina League Championship by hitting .412 during the playoffs.