Pickleball has become a massive sport seemingly overnight throughout the United States.
If you aren’t playing it, you probably know someone who is — whether that’s a friend, sibling, parent, uncle, aunt, or co-worker. Pickleball courts are popping up faster than acne on a kid’s face going through puberty. With the rise of the sport even being televised on streaming services, it could very quickly become among the most popular sports in the country.
As fate would have it, Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts has also gotten into the craze. It’s not shocking considering Betts is objectively speaking one of the most talented people on Earth. His teammates often praise him for being excellent at virtually every single thing he tries — especially other sports.
Pickleball appears to be no exception. Betts’ hand-eye coordination, quickness, and agility seems like a perfect fit for the sports. Having said that, it doesn’t look like he’ll be on a pickleball court anytime soon.
An ESPN article written by Jesse Rogers spoke about how the sport has become hugely popular within MLB circles. This, of course, includes the Dodgers. According to Rogers, the team was actively participating in pickleball during spring training.
Betts may have been involved last year, but this year is a different story.
“I’m done. I don’t play anymore. I got hooked on golf again,” Betts said. “I’m playing shortstop now. I don’t have time to be doing all that running and stuff.”
To be sure, golf is far less taxing on one’s body. With Betts playing the most physically demanding position on the diamond, he can ill-afford to have some sort of muscle pull (or even worse) playing pickleball.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman also echoed this sentiment within the article. While dissuading Betts from playing appeared to be true, this premise also extends to virtually every other member of the team as well:
“We had many a conversation about it last spring,” Friedman said. “I don’t think it’s a great thing for the Dodgers’ ultimate success for a lot of guys to be playing pickleball.”
