How Blue Jays third base coach Carlos Febles helped mould Mookie Betts

TORONTO — Mookie Betts knew that if he made his way to the Rogers Centre infield early enough on Friday, he’d find his old mentor. Sure enough, when the Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop popped out of the visitors’ dugout around 3 p.m., he spotted Blue Jays third base coach Carlos Febles.

The two have known each other since 2013 and so a big hug and catch-up was in order.

Betts was a fresh-faced 20-year-old when he played for Febles, who managed the Boston Red Sox single-A affiliate Greenville Drive. Naturally, the two have some great throwback stories, like the time Febles slapped Betts. 

Or did he?

The story goes that Betts came up to the plate one game with none out and runners on first and second. He surprised everybody by laying down a successful bunt that earned him an infield single and loaded the bases. However, the next batter struck out and that was followed by a double play that killed what looked to be a promising rally for the Drive. 

“I’ll never forget it,” Betts recalls. “[Febles] came in after the game and he let me have it. He’s like, ‘Don’t you ever bunt again.’ He smacked me in my head and said, ‘Don’t ever bunt.’”

Febles recalls the situation differently. 

“I didn’t slap him,” Febles counters with a giant grin. “I said, ‘Listen, you’re my best [expletive] hitter. You’re not here to bunt. You’re a good hitter.”

Jokes aside, the encounter has stuck with Betts because it was exactly what he needed to hear at the time. He was a rail-thin infielder who lacked confidence in his own abilities. 

“I was a little guy, especially back in 2012-13, and little guys are bunting and the game was different then,” says Betts. “And so, I think that was [Febles’] way of reinforcing the positive — like, ‘You can hit, I want you to hit. You’re not going to go through the ranks by not hitting.’  

“I had never heard that before.”

That brand of positivity is a defining characteristic of Febles, according to Betts. It’s how the coach has sought to get the best out of players, and it’s helped him carve out a career in big-league organizations. Febles was promoted to the Red Sox’s coaching staff in 2018 — overlapping with Betts for two seasons before the star was traded to the Dodgers — and spent seven years there before joining the Blue Jays this past off-season as a replacement for longtime coach Luis Rivera, who retired.

Blue Jays personnel have raved about the energy that Febles, who played six seasons with the Kansas City Royals, brings daily. Betts says that’s what first endeared him to the former second baseman. 

“He’s a lot of laughs, a lot of jokes,” says Betts. “Even when he is having a bad day, you can’t really tell and if he is having a bad day, he finds a way to get out of it. He doesn’t bring people down with him.” 

Betts was drafted out of high school as an infielder before moving to the outfield in the upper levels of the minors. Febles, a second baseman during his own playing days, spent copious amounts of time working with Betts at the position. When they were together in Greenville, Betts would field ground balls before every game under the tutelage of Febles.

“He was just out there with me every day grinding,” says Betts. “This was the manager, but that’s why I didn’t look at him as a manager. I looked at him more like a coach and a friend.”

Febles remembers a young Betts being a hard worker who searched for every possible edge. He would pepper coaches, players and even bat boys with streams of questions in what seemed like a relentless quest for improvement. 

There were even times when the manager would have to yell at Betts to get him to stop taking ground balls. If Betts made an error in a game, he’d be out there early the next day seemingly trying to make up for it. Febles wanted to ensure the prospect was pursuing quality reps over quantity.

“It’s like he feels like he’s the worst player in baseball,” says Febles. “Mookie is the guy that would hit a line drive up the middle in the cage and was not happy about it. And the guys behind would say, ‘Wow,’ but he was like, ‘It doesn’t feel right.’ It was the same way defensively. 

“But now, he’s got to a stage where it doesn’t matter for him.” 

That stage has Betts situated as arguably a top-three player in the sport. He’s won a batting title and MVP award, two World Series championships, six Gold Gloves and is a seven-time all-star. The 31-year-old is on track for the Hall of Fame and his 67.6 career Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference, rank him second to Mike Trout (86.2) among all active position players.

“He got to this point where he is right now by working his tail off and he continues to work,” says Febles. “So, I feel proud of him. Not just the player, the man he has become. He’s still the same guy that he was in the minor leagues.”

And even to this day, the educational exchanges between the two don’t stop. When he caught up with Febles on Friday ahead of the series opener between the Dodgers and Blue Jays, Betts took the opportunity to pick the brain of his former manager. Betts moved from right field to second base last season and is now in the midst of transitioning to shortstop.

“He was giving me things to think about at a new position,” says Betts. “He’s still trying to help me. We have that rapport — you know somebody when you’re 20 years old, so 10-plus years, that’s a relationship that’s everlasting.”

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