Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons has quickly become a greatly followed social media personality. He and Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud recently went viral for a clip where they talked about how they would fare in MLB. Los Angeles Dodgers star, and former MVP, Mookie Betts weighed in during his podcast on Bleacher Report.
Parsons suggested he could hit between .180 and .200 across a 162-game season. Stroud resoundingly disagreed.
Betts and his podcast guest, Texas Rangers‘ Marcus Semien, discussed Parsons’ claims during the June 12 episode of On Base Live. The Dodgers star had a strong opinion of Parsons’ confidence.
The Players’ Thoughts
Parsons not only thinks he can hit the ball but do it pretty consistently at the major league level. While .200 isn’t a great batting average, there are big-league players hitting at or below that mark. For Parson’s to think he can do so seems like a stretch.
Betts and Semien acknowledged the fact that there are good hitters in MLB hitting near the .200 mark right now. Betts was not high on Parsons’ claims despite his athletic abilities.
“Micah, you are a phenomenal athlete, top tier,” said Betts. “No chance you can hit between .180 and .200. You can do a lot of things, and a lot of things successfully, but hitting a baseball is not one of them.”
Betts went on to mention his teammate Tyler Glasnow’s thoughts. Glasnow told Chris Ross on his podcast, The Chris Ross Rotation, that Parsons could get five hits in 500 at bats. Betts suggested that he would not get a single hit. Semien was more optimistic.
“I’d probably say no,” Semien responded to Betts saying Parsons would get zero hits in 500 at bats. “Somebody will tell him to drop down a bunt at least six times out of 500.”
Parson’s Bold Claim
Betts won the American League MVP in 2018. He has been at the top of the game and is still one of the best hitters in the majors with a .309 batting average for the Dodgers. He is more than qualified to speak on the difficulty level of hitting a baseball. Betts isn’t the first former MVP to make such a claim about hitting.
Back in 2021, former MVP Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers said that an average person would not record a single hit in 1,000 pitches against Jacob deGrom.
“I think there’s a chance you could maybe foul tip one,” said Yelich on Pardon My Take. “If there was an actual defense out there, getting a hit, there’s no chance. You would go 0-1000.”
Obviously, Parsons is not an average person. He is a two-time NFL First Team All-Pro. However, Parsons has never played baseball at any level. In MLB there are currently four qualified hitters batting between .180 and .200.
Randy Arozarena of the Tampa Bay Rays, Mitch Garver of the Seattle Mariners, Eugenio Suárez of the Arizona Diamondbacks and George Springer of the Toronto Blue Jays are the four hitters hitting at the level Parsons claimed he could. Hitting between .180 and .200 is not actually a sign of a good hitter despite some big names on that list.
Garver has won a Silver Slugger and Springer has won two. Arozarena, Garver and Springer have all been named to the All-Star game in their careers. Some of the game’s best are having down years and hitting at the mark Parsons says he could.
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