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Mookie Betts is leading the Boston Red Sox with a .288 average (AP photo).

(Chris O'Meara)

BOSTON – Brock Holt has never come across someone with Mookie Betts’ talent.

“Not as good as him,” Holt said.

Clay Buchholz can’t fathom how Betts does it.

“I’ve tried a couple times,” Buchholz said. “And it’s a lot harder than it looks to make the ball do what you want it to do.”

Betts is 5-foot-9, about 155 pounds, and he’s unofficially the best bowler the Boston Red Sox have ever had.

“Everyone kind of knows that,” Holt said.

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It’s Monday night and Betts is in the Red Sox’s lineup hitting leadoff. Betts digs his feet into the batter's box in the bottom of the first inning. Miguel Gonzalez throws a late-breaking slider that drops out of the strike zone. Betts drives it into center field for a base hit, moving his average to .293.

Move over George Springer, Billy Hamilton, Gregory Polanco, Jon Singleton and, yes, even Xander Bogaerts. Of the 58 rookies with at least 100 plate appearances, Betts’ .832 OPS ranks second behind 27-year-old Cuban sensation Jose Abreu. He also has seven doubles and four home runs in 34 games.

It's only been 34 games, it’s worth mentioning again. Too soon to fret? Probably. We’ve seen this story before.

Xander Bogaerts hit .304 through his first 53 games this season. He’s hit .182 since.

Will Middlebrooks hit .288 over 75 games in his rookie year back in 2012.

“It seems like so long ago,” said Middlebrooks, who has hit .213 since.

Hit a few home runs and the rest of the league takes you seriously, studies your video and finds your flaws. Technological advances and a bottomless supply of flame-throwing pitchers are a big reason why rookies across baseball are hitting just .237 this year, the lowest mark in 35 years.

Many of them have failed immediately. Others, like Bogaerts and Springer, experienced a burst of success from the get-go, then got exposed.

“I think a lot of guys that come up for a month or two have success because they’re going to be pitched by the book,” Middlebrooks said. “Heaters in, breaking balls away until there’s a book on you and they realize what your weaknesses are. That’s where the cat and mouse game starts, where they adapted to me, now I have to adapt to that.”

Middlebrooks has been one of the few players over the past three years to put together a legitimate rookie campaign over more than just a month or two. He had 15 home runs and 54 RBIs in about a half-season’s worth of work.

“There was an adjustment period,” he said. “There were definitely a couple weeks (in 2012) where I would grind, a couple weeks where I’d say, ‘Alright, they kind of figured me out.’ And I had some help from guys to point that out because I didn’t understand that at the time. I know that now, that you have to adjust. It’s just being able to do it.

“I’ve been injured. I’m not making excuses, but I haven’t been healthy in two years and it’s tough. It’s all about making adjustments. That’s the key to hitting.”

Betts has been totally healthy his rookie year. And after hitting .368 with a 1.139 OPS over 10 games leading into September, he’s become a player opposing pitchers have to be aware of.

Soon, Betts will have to make his biggest adjustment period yet. Will he be able to adapt and survive? Many before him haven’t.

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From point guard to bowler, back and forth Betts transformed during winters at John Overton High School in Tennessee.

There was an agreement between varsity basketball coach James McKee and bowling coach Michael Fox, who each sought the services of the school’s best athlete.

"Can Mookie be shared?"

Fox understood where bowling fit in on most athletic department hierarchies. Betts wouldn’t be needed for practices and Fox would happily sign off on sending him to the court on most days.

Betts played point guard for the basketball team, averaged 14 points and nine assists his senior season and was named Most Valuable Player in District 12-AAA.

If there wasn’t a basketball game, and the bowling team had a match against a good team, Fox called in his ringer.

“Look, he doesn’t need to be here for practices – because he didn’t, the kid didn’t need practice in it and he was already in weekend leagues,” Fox said. “Let’s put it this way, he came in midway through the year for one of our biggest district matches. He had just gotten (a minor injury), he came in, no practice or anything. And he bowled a 700 series (averaging over 233 in a three-game series). First time he had bowled all year.”

As good as he was on the baseball field (in June of his senior year, the Red Sox drafted him in the fifth round), and as good as he was on the basketball court, he might’ve been a better bowler.

Seriously.

Consider that the highest average of anyone on the PBA Tour (that’s the highest level of professionals, for those of you who aren’t hip to bowling) is Jason Belmonte, who averages 228 and has earned $144,300 in winnings this year (Betts should make more than that with the Red Sox in 2014). The next-highest average is 223.

Betts, who had SEC scholarship offers after his senior year, averaged somewhere between 230 and 240.

“He’s the only one I had seen in high school who averaged 230,” Fox said. “Everyone around us knew it and saw it. If he had enough games to qualify, he would’ve won states.”

States? Forget about states, he could’ve gone pro.

Granted, the oil patterns on the PBA Tour are intentionally tricky. Each bowling hall has its own shot. And because they only use two lanes during tournaments, the oil is constantly moving, creating different levels of spin on the ball as it rolls down the lane. Think about it like a pitcher trying to throw off a mound that varies in height with every pitch. It adds difficulty.

Still, Betts probably could’ve handled it. Unlike most professional bowlers, he didn’t rely on hooking the ball. He threw more of a straight shot.

“He relied mainly on power but when he needed to, he could hook it,” Fox said. “If he had to adjust, if he had to go more straight, he made whatever adjustment he had to make and he always made it quick. He was so easy to coach.

“If I said, ‘I think you should do this,’ he’d say, ‘OK, sounds great.’”

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Mookie Betts was an infielder in high school, but learned the outfield this year (AP photo).

The Red Sox have found Betts to be similarly coachable, although they haven’t had to say much.

He plays the game his way, takes gargantuan leads off first base, runs the bases aggressively and swings at unconventional times. He has a higher average with two strikes than he does with two balls.

But his athleticism and hand-eye coordination is so pure, it hardly matters. He hits breaking balls or fastballs. Inside or outside.

“I’m sure there’s a book out on him already for the opponents, but the one thing he’s done is not only manage his at-bats, but I think he’s stayed within the strike zone fairly well,” manager John Farrell said. “We’ve seen pitchers try to pitch him in and he has enough bat speed to turn on some balls. He’s handled some breaking balls going the other way.

"I can't say there's been one way that he's been exposed. So I think it's a credit of his ability to know the strike zone and hit pitches where they're located. "



He's adjusted to major league pitchers about as easily as he adjusted to each level before him.

He hit .341 at High-A, .355 in Double-A and .335 in Triple-A. And he’s still learning.

“Looking back at it, last year, a couple years ago, I didn’t know anything about baseball, how the game should be played, how to go about your business,” he said. “I know a whole lot now.”

Buchholz, who has been through plenty of struggles in the majors, has been in awe of Betts’ adaptability.

“Obviously, if he stayed at second base he would’ve been in the minor leagues a long time,” Buchholz said. “I don’t think there was really a reason for anybody to come up for second base because the one we have (Dustin Pedroia) is probably the best in the game.

“For him, being able to put everything else aside and agree to change positions to get to the big leagues – first time up he was a little rough around the edges, but he’s learned a lot in the past 2 ½ months – to be playing in the big leagues in center field is not an easy thing to do. Especially when you’ve never done it before. Looking back, how much ground he’s gained at that position, is pretty impressive.”

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Betts leaves his bowling balls in Tennessee during the baseball season. They’ll sit in his bag for months before he pulls them out again sometime in October.

“When I go home, I’m actually in a couple leagues with my mom and some friends,” he said. “Something to do while I’m home so I’m not sitting around my house.”

He still has his rings, awarded for a couple 300 games and two 800 series. They remind him of who he was three years ago, how good he was at bowling and how far he’s come in a different sport since then.

Truth is, Betts never thought his name would be seen on screens at Fenway Park.

Mookie Betts envisioned a different path. Somewhere along the way, he made a few adjustments.

“What most people don’t know about me, I didn’t think I was going to make it in baseball,” he said. “I was like, 'If I don’t make it, maybe I can go bowl.' But my main focus is here, now that I’m here I’ve pushed that off to the side. Maybe when I retire I can go do it. Those guys aren’t 21, they’re in their mid-30s.

“I could always join the senior tour.”

Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat writer @JMastrodonato on Twitter. He can be reached by email at jmastrod@masslive.com.