As a new year draws near, the offseason has already been quite an eventful one for Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Cody Bellinger.
On the heels of a historic 2019 campaign, the 24-year-old was named National League MVP over the likes of Christian Yelich and Anthony rendon. Bellinger became the first Dodgers player to win the award since Clayton Kershaw in 2014, and the first position-player to do so since Kirk Gibson in 1988.
Bellinger’s success at the plate was further recognized in the form of a Silver Slugger Award. His defensive efforts during the 2019 season also earned him his first career Gold Glove Award in right field, as well as a pair of Fielding Bible Awards.
In what has been a busy last couple of weeks, Bellinger was recently on hand at Staples Center for a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. He served as the honorary captain and took in the game alongside Kenley Jansen and Tommy Lasorda.
During an interview with Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell, Bellinger noted that he has already started offseason workouts and plans to resume baseball activities toward the end of December, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Just working out right now. Baseball activity will come around Christmas time. I’ve just been working out and getting stronger, so when the baseball activity comes, you’re feeling strong and ready to go.”
Bellinger’s drive to resume baseball activities before the new year shouldn’t come as a surprise considering previous comments in which he revealed that he is using his MVP award as extra motivation to improve for the 2020 season.
Like Bellinger, a handful of Dodgers players have already begun working out this offseason. The group includes Jansen, Justin Turner and Gavin Lux, among others.
As for Lux in particular, he began working out just 10 days into the offseason as a way to fight off boredom. The rookie noted how fun it was to share the field with Bellinger this past year and made it a goal of his to become the Dodgers’ starting second baseman for the 2020 season.
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