Dodgers weekly recap: Mookie Betts one of MLBs hottest hitters as training is paying off

Welcome to The California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where baseball writers Dylan Hernández and Jack Harris review the week that was, hand out very official awards and take stock of the state of the season.Mookie Betts (.378 average, 3 HR, 1.061 OPS over last 11 games; .230 average, 9 HR, 21 RBI, .705 OPS on season)A couple weeks ago, Mookie Betts was looking like the unluckiest hitter in baseball.Now, the former MVP might just be one of the hottest hitters in the sport.In 11 games since June 13, Betts has finally unlocked something in his long-slumping swing, going 17-for-45 with three homers, six extra-base hits, a .417 on-base-percentage and the kind of consistent impact the Dodgers had been missing from him offensively much of the last two calendar years.His best performance in that stretch came Wednesday night in Minnesota, when Betts went 3-for-4 with a double and a homer –– the 300th of his career –– while also saving a couple runs defensively with a spinning snare and throw from shortstop.Even at 33 years old, it was a reminder of the way he can still put his mark on a game.“We’ll take it one game at a time, but I do feel … pretty good, pretty normal, like I can just go just kind of be myself and good things will happen,” Betts said.“I don’t even know really what I found.

After the home run the first at-bat, I wasn’t sure what I did, but I just kind of stayed there.I think that was the beauty of it: Not really fully knowing and just kind of going to play, I think, kind of let me know, my training is paying off.”Granted, this recent turnaround is still a small sample.On the year, Betts’ .230 average and .705 OPS both easily remain career-worst marks.However, those numbers had always seemed low, especially when considering Betts’ better-than-league-average analytical metrics in expected batting average and exit velocity.That’s why, even when he was slumping, he had professed confidence he would turn things around.Suddenly,...