From water boy to big leaguer- Mookie Betts
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At a listed 5’9″ and 155 pounds, Sox prospect Mookie Betts isn’t exactly your prototypical power hitter. Actually, he’s not your typical professional athlete either.
With big, burly ball players dominating the headlines, a small guy like Betts can get lost in the shuffle. That hasn’t stopped the Sox rookie from raising eyebrows .280/.357/.448 line along with four homers in just 36 games of play. At 21 years old Betts has a ways to grow into his small frame, but imagine what the scrappy outfielder/second baseman looked like way back in high school.
Believe it or not, Betts was smaller as a young athlete, so small in fact that his mother worried about him playing football for his school team. Seeing his limitations on the gridiron, Betts got creative and decided that in order to hang out with his pals on the team, his best bet was to be the water boy.
That’s right, Betts started out as the water boy for his high school football team. When it’s brought up Betts looks back on his past with great humility and fondness.
“I spent four years as water boy because all my friends played (football). I was the real water boy. I traveled with the team,” Betts said. “I was always there. All my friends played and it was a way to be around it. I had no shame in it. Sometimes when I was walking around people would make jokes, but I didn’t care.
“I filled up all the water bottles. I made sure everybody had what they needed. If they needed something out of the locker, I got it. If they needed something with the buttons on their chin straps, I took care of it. But I got to be around all my buddies and got in the games for free.”
As you can imagine, Betts probably got a great deal of flack for his position on the team, and his small stature. The kid never wavered though as he worked out regularly with the football team to pack muscle on his frame and power in his swing. While Betts may not have the giant muscled frame of his contemporaries, he has lighting quick hands and the smarts to be a great hitter at any level.
This is the guy who hit .346 with 11 homers in 99 games between AA and AAA this season after all, the kid can hit no matter what level he’s at, and believe me he will continue to do so for the Sox.
