‘I’m scared to eat.‘ Ex-Boston Red Sox MVP has lost 25 pounds to mystery illness

‘I’m scared to eat.‘ Ex-Boston Red Sox MVP has lost 25 pounds to mystery illness
Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)AP

There’s something wrong with Mookie Betts’ stomach, and doctors don’t quite know what it is.

All the former Boston Red Sox star knows is that he can’t keep down solid food, which has caused him to weigh in as low as 150 pounds. That’s 25 pounds down from when the team left spring training.

“I don’t think anybody really knows … My body’s just kind of eating itself, and so it’s hard to not fuel it,” Betts told reporters Sunday. “Every time – literally, every time I fuel my body, I throw it up and I don’t know what to do about it.”

The 32-year-old Betts has been sidelined with an illness since just before the Los Angeles Dodgers left for their two-game series in Tokyo a week earlier. He says he received two liters of IV while in Tokyo and doesn’t remember the last time he managed to keep down solid food. Betts described the ride to and from Japan as “brutal” and some of the worst trips he’s ever had.

The Dodgers star has gone for testing. But so far, doctors have yet to pin down a diagnosis.

“My vitals, everything has come back clean. Blood tests, everything has come back really, really clean, healthy,” Betts said. “So I guess it’s just something with my stomach being really aggravated. So I’m just starting some new medicine now to try and calm my stomach down.”

Betts said that he has been improving and has managed to keep down some liquid foods, like smoothies. He had been working out in recent days and was set to play in Sunday’s exhibition game against the Los Angeles Angels.

That was until he threw up again. Betts says he wants to play. Most of the initial symptoms have subsided and his body feels better. However, his stomach simply isn’t cooperating.

“I’m scared to eat, so I don’t really know what to do,” he said.

Betts is set to be the Dodgers’ primary shortstop in 2025. Betts has primarily been a right field for most of his career — particularly his six seasons in Boston. However, Betts has taken on more infield assignments out of necessity in recent seasons for L.A.

Betts is coming off his eighth All-Star season and third World Series title. He previously won championships with the Red Sox in 2018 and the Dodgers in 2020.

Betts, who was named the AL MVP in 2018, was viewed as Boston’s franchise cornerstone early in his career. However, in one of the most controversial moves in recent history, Boston traded him to L.A. after the 2019 season after failing to sign him to a long-term contract extension.

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