Cody Bellinger was named National League Player of the Week for games played April 18-24, becoming the first member of the Los Angeles Dodgers to earn the honor this season. AJ Pollock (July 5-11), Chris Taylor (July 19-25), Max Scherzer (Sept. 6-12) and Trea Turner (Sept. 27-Oct. 3) received recognition last year.
It’s the fourth time Bellinger has earned NL Player of the Week, last doing so during his 2019 MVP season.
While in starting each of the Dodgers’ six games last week, Bellinger hit .304/.307/.870 with two doubles, one triple, three home runs and seven RBI. Included in that was slugging two home runs on Sunday to help the Dodgers earn a series win against the San Diego Padres.
That gave Bellinger 14 career multi-homer games and his first since Aug. 11, 2021.
Overall this season, Bellinger enters play Monday batting .273/.333/.582. He leads the Dodgers in home runs (four), total bases (32) and slugging percentage.
The production has helped ease concerns after Bellinger struggled through an injury-filled 2021 season and followed that by not faring well at the plate during Spring Training.
“A really big boost for all of us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Bellinger’s season thus far. “I just expected him to be a big contributor for our ballclub in the batter’s box and defensively. He’s healthy, he looks physical, he’s strong.
“I just want him to go out there and compete. As far as OPS or raw numbers, I didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted him to help us win ballgames.”
Bellinger’s Dodgers franchise record
Bellinger’s 14 career multi-home run games are the most in Dodgers franchise history by a player through his age-26 season.
Even amidst a slow start to this year, Bellinger continued to emphasize he was feeling healthy and encouraged results would improve.
“Like I said, feeling good, just keep having faith and staying healthy is the most important thing,” he reiterated Sunday.
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