Coming off an equally impressive season on both sides of the ball for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cody Bellinger was voted 2019 National League MVP, edging the likes of Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich and Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon.
Bellinger received 19 of 30 first-place votes, and 10 second-place votes. Yelich garnered 10 first-place votes, 18 for second place, and one vote for third place. Rendon netted one first-place vote, one for second and 24 for third place.
Bellinger is the 12th player in Dodgers history to win NL MVP, joining Jake Daubert (1913), Dazzy Vance (1924), Dolph Camilli (1941), Jackie Robinson (1949), Roy Campanella (1951, 1953, 1955), Don Newcombe (1956), Maury Wills (1962), Sandy Koufax (1963), Steve Garvey (1974), Kirk Gibson (1988) and Clayton Kershaw (2014).
Setting his sights on bouncing back from an inconsistent sophomore campaign, Bellinger immediately made his presence felt in the middle of the Dodgers lineup. He hit a stellar .404/.487/.783 with 10 doubles, 17 home runs, 44 RBI and 43 runs scored in 47 games to begin the 2019 season.
In 156 total games, Bellinger batted .305/.406/.629 with 121 runs scored, 34 doubles, 47 home runs, 115 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 20 attempts. He led all of baseball with 351 total bases and was one of six qualified players to post an on-base slugging of over 1.000.
Bellinger additionally accumulated a career-best 9.0 WAR (Baseball-Reference) and set many franchise records, including most home runs hit at Dodger Stadium in a single season.
Bellinger’s 27 long balls at Chavez Ravine broke the record held by Gil Hodges (1954) and Duke Snider (1956), who both hit 25 apiece while the team was playing at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
Other hardware Bellinger has earned this offseason include a pair of 2019 Fielding Bible Awards, a Gold Glove Award in right field and Silver Slugger.
Bellinger joined Dusty Baker (1981), Russell Martin (2007), Matt Kemp (2009, 2011) and Adrian Gonzalez (2014) as Dodgers to win Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards in the same season.
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