With the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers recently playing seven games in 10 days, it not only was reminiscent of the 2018 National League Championship Series matchup, but it provided Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich with an up-close look at one another.
Yelich has been nothing short of remarkable since last season’s All-Star break. Meanwhile, Bellinger was in the process of adding to an impressive 2019 season during the 10-day stretch, and he’s since continued an assault on the record books.
Entering play Monday, Bellinger leads the Majors in runs scored (30), hits (44), RBI (36), batting average (.427), on-base percentage (.500), slugging (.913), on-base plus slugging (1.413), OPS + (265), total bases (94), wOBA (.556) and wRC+ (256).
Bellinger’s 14 home runs are tied with Yelich for the MLB lead. They’re in rare air, having joined Albert Pujols (2006) and Alex Rodriguez (2007) as the only players to ever slug 14 homers before May 1.
Bellinger additionally broke Chase Utley’s record for total bases before May and Rafael Furcal’s Dodgers franchise record for most hits prior to that same date. “For this period of time, I can’t recall,” answered Dodgers manager Dave Roberts when asked if he could remember similar production.
“If you look at the spray chart, the ball is all over the field. The walks, more than strikeouts. Left-handed, right-handed, there’s really no drop off. I haven’t seen this.”
Roberts reiterated he sensed a change in Bellinger during Spring Training, which was a byproduct of his offseason work. Though, Roberts could not have predicted this type of production from his young slugger.
“Could I forecast the numbers? No, but I could see that there was a real finite intent to the work in the cage, the batting practice, the conversations,” Roberts said. “So then you take it into Spring Training, which we saw, so he was certainly heading in the right direction. For it to play out like this now, that just kind of breeds confidence.”
For all of Bellinger’s statistics, it was a slap single into a hole in the shift to drive in what amounted to the game-winning run in Sunday’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates that embodies his progress made on last season.
“He threw two heaters by me, so at that point I was in protection mode. Just saw that one out of the hand a little bit and tried to put the barrel on it,” Bellinger said of the at-bat against southpaw Francisco Liriano.
“Just got to touch it. Guy on third, it was cool to see it go through.”
Bellinger further attributed his hit to a renewed approach. “I think I found out what I couldn’t do last year, and kind of threw that away,” he said.
“I would just say it’s understanding how to use your swing, just trying to stay within myself in the cage every day and repeat what I’m doing. Just not trying to do too much. Rob (Van Scoyoc) and Brownie (Brant Brown) have done a good job of keeping me where I’m at.
“If I do get off, it’s not just me. There’s a lot of help around me. They’ve done a great job for me. They’re smart, they give me little advice that they think is going to help. I wouldn’t say there’s one thing. There’s a lot of things that have turned into what it is now.
“Every day, before the game I just know what I want to do. The days that I feel off, it’s, ‘Why am I feeling it and how do I get back to where I want to be?'”
Still a kid at heart, Bellinger said he has not been incentivized by Dodgers hitting coaches with pizza. “But if they did it would’ve been even better,” he joked.
