Price: Betts is the best player in baseball
During David Price's nine-year career, he's had the privilege of playing with some really good players. 2015 American League MVP Josh Donaldson and 2012 AL Triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera, to name a few.
Add Mookie Betts to that list.
When asked what he thought about Betts' chance of winning the 2016 AL MVP award, Price offered up some very high praise.
"Right now, I think he's the best player in all of baseball," Price told Jon Morosi.
"I have the utmost respect for Donaldson and Mike Trout, and Jose Altuve, but Mookie's been special. And when a guy has never done it before, that makes it a little more special."
Even though this is Price's first season in Boston, he said he took notice of Betts last year, and even compared him to another one of the league's better players.
"Watching him last season, I said, 'He's Andrew McCutchen Jr.' He's got a pair of the quickest hands in baseball. That was McCutchen: It didn't matter how hard you threw. If you tried to throw a fastball in, he was going to hit it really hard to left field. It's the same thing with Mookie," Price said.
"He's on his way to being the next face of baseball. He could do it."
Price may be onto something. Heading into Sunday, Betts had more RBIs (89) than Trout (77), Donaldson (80), and Altuve (81), while his slugging percentage (.564) trailed only Altuve and teammate David Ortiz.
Betts' MVP-like season has turned heads all year long, and his record breaking month of August is no fluke. He recently became only the eighth player in league history to have multiple three-home run games in one season.
Price went on to say he feels Betts is mature enough to be a leader, and is confident the 23-year-old can be a role model for younger players looking to make a difference.
"It's special, to have a guy of his caliber, at such a young age, understand that what he does, doesn't just affect the Boston Red Sox. Kids from all over the place are watching this guy. Big leaguers are watching this guy. He's a special talent. He's wrapped his head around that at an early age, and that's good."