Cody Bellinger: Gold Glove, Silver Bat, Laser Arm Best Player in Baseball?

Let me start this by saying that Cody Bellinger is one of the best First Basemen I have ever seen. Ever! That said, he will not be playing first base for a long, long time, because he happens to be an elite Right Fielder. Cody Bellinger anchors an outfield that is quite likely the best defensive outfield in MLB. Here’s a quote from The LA Times:

“Our outfield defensively, collectively, and obviously I haven’t seen every team play, but it is playing as good as anyone I can imagine,” Roberts said.

Roberts said the organization’s internal defensive metrics support his hunch. Publicly available information also indicates the Dodgers’ outfield defense has made a leap from last season. One metric is defensive runs saved. The Dodgers outfield ranked 12th in the majors with 11 defensive runs saved in 2018, according to FanGraphs. This season, they lead baseball with 20.

The Dodger’s outfield could set a record for defensive runs saved this season and Cody Bellinger is a big part of that metric. I don’t care if he is the best 1B in baseball. He is also the best RF in baseball and can impact the game more there than at 1B. There’s a reason they put guys with big bats who aren’t good fielders at 1B: They can become solid there with repetition but to play RF at the level Cody does, you have to be a Natural.

Cody Bellinger is an elite athlete. His athleticism is wasted at 1B. Cody Bellinger has a cannon for an arm, which is wasted at 1B. Cody Bellinger has TOP 20 Speed (in all of baseball), which is wasted at 1B. Did you know that Cody has more “sub 4 second times to 1B than anyone in baseball, including Dee Gordon and Billy Hamilton? He’s freaky fast. That kind of speed needs to be in the outfield. Cody Bellinger will be an outfielder until he’s around 30… and THEN, and ONLY THEN, he might move back to 1B and win a few more Gold Gloves there.

Enjoy Cody Bellinger in RF because that is where he will be… for a long time. It also doesn’t hurt that he prefers to play RF and his hitting is awesome there. Yes, he may be the best 1B in baseball, but it would weaken the team to pit him there, because there is no one close to being as good as Cody in RF.

Kershaw vs. deGrom

It seems that many Dodger fans have written Clayton Kershaw off as the Dodgers Ace. I say “Not so fast.” Last year, fans were begging the Dodgers to trade for Jacob deGrom so that they could have a “real ace”. What if Andrew Friedman had pulled the trigger and gutted the farm to do that? It would have taken Verdugo, Ruiz, May, and Gonsolin… at least. We should all be happy he didn’t make the dope-fiend move many of you prayed for. deGrom is a good pitcher, but Kershaw is still better.

Kershaw has a 3.45 ERA, while deGrom is at .3.71. The Dodgers have won like 15 in a row of Clayton’s starts. He is re-inventing himself… and I am confident he will figure it out. He has more quality starts than anyone in the NL.

Of course, fans are so fickle. Now they want Max Scherzer, who has a 3.26 ERA. I’m sorry (no I’m not), but why are some of you “Hatin’ on Clayton?” Watch and learn! He will figure it out. This is a “work-in-progress.” He’s healthy and learning how to pitch in the low 90’s. I hear he has been working on a changeup. If he could master that pitch, I see another Cy Young.

Rants & Raves

• Alex Verdugo plays the game right and does a lot of things that don’t show up in the boxscore, like a sacrifice fly with 1 out and a runner on 3B. He seems to always throw to the right base. Solid… if not spectacular.
• I am anxious to see Will Smith at the MLB level – I’ve watched him a lot in the minors, but The Show is s different animal.
• So, the Dodgers don’t need two “utility players, like CT3 and Kike?” Ha, Ha! Surely you jest!
• Joc Pederson went 3-3 with no extra-base hits. The last time we saw that was like NEVER! He is now OPS’ing over 1.000. Now hopefully, they will introduce him to some weak lefties to start the process.
• I feel bad for Joe Kelly – whatever is happening with his isn’t good. But this is a bottom-line game. Last night was a perfect game to bring in Kelly because they had a big margin of error. I expect that’s where we will see him utilized for a while. Roger Askew was the “voice of reason” on this. He wrote this yesterday, and we can all learn from it:

I know we all want to torch Kelly, but we all felt the same way with El Gasolino Baez last year, and look at where he is this year. Call me crazy, but all we need him for is about 3 weeks in October. He sucked most of the season last year for the Sahx, then mowed down everyone else, including us in the postseason. He still has value for us, and that’s why Doc keeps trotting him out there. As fans, we can rag on Kelly all we want, but Roberts as the manager HAS to give Kelly a chance to get his head right. The guy can throw smoke, he just needs to lock in. Once again, tar and feather my ass all the way out of town, but I still think Kelly will be an important bullpen piece come October, just like a healthy Pollock will be huge for us in the playoffs. Gotta trust the process, even though it gets messy at times.

Minor League Report by DC

Player of the Day – Cameron Perkins

Perkins had four hits for the Dodgers, two of them doubles, along with two runs batted in. In his last 10 games Perkins has hit .351.

Great Lakes Loons 3 – Fort Wayne TinCaps  8 (San Diego)

Left-hander Jon Rooney started for the Loons and after two strong innings things fell apart in the third

Inning. By the time he exited the game with one out in the third inning on 67 pitches he had given up five hits, three runs, and three walks leaving the bases full for right-hander Justin Hagenman. It didn’t take long for the TinCaps to empty the bases as the first hitter he faced hit a dribble double down the third base line scoring three more runs. Hagenman pitched three innings and his record will show one hit, one run, one walk, and two strikeouts. He left with a runner on second base after a throwing error by Jacob Amaya and was replaced by Brett de Geus who could not strand the runner. De Geus did finish 2.2 innings with no more damage done. Jasiel Alvino came on to finish up the ninth inning and gave up one more run.

The Loons scored first in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by Dillon Paulson bringing Miguel Vargas home. They  made a bit more noise in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Paulson two-run home run. Great Lakes  had only five hits, two by James Outman.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes  

The Quakes begin a two-game at Lake Elisnore on Tuesday before returning home for a seven game home stand. They presently lead the Lancaster JetHawks by two games.

Tulsa Drillers  

The Drillers also had Memorial Day off and headed to Springfield to start a six-game road trip on Tuesday. Three of those games will be the Arkansas Travelers whom they trail by 5.5 games.

OKC Dodgers  3 –  Omaha Storm Chasers  7 (Kansas City)

In the first game of a double header right-hander Mitchell White started for the Dodgers looking for a better start after his two previous starts. He did so with four strong innings on five hits, one run, one walk and three strikeouts. He made 54 pitches, 34 of them for strikes. He was followed by Joe Broussard who gave up six runs in his two innings pitched, two of them in the fifth inning on a home run by right-fielder Brett Phillips with the other unearned. Phillips struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning, this time with a three-run home run.

Offensively the Dodgers battled back from a 4-0 deficit with two runs in the top of the sixth inning on a Connor Joe home run before falling behind 7-2. The closest they could get was 7-3 with a single run in the top of the seventh inning.

OKC Dodgers 5 – Omaha Storm Chasers 6 (Kansas City)

Ben Holmes got the call in game two and  went into the bottom of the fourth inning with a 5-1 lead. It quickly evaporated when Storm Chaser catcher Xavier Fernandez hit a three-run home run. Kevin Quackenbush came on in the bottom of the fifth inning and pitched a clean inning. Josh Sborz took over in the sixth inning and gave up two runs blowing the save and taking the loss.

The Dodgers started quickly in game two of the doubleheader scoring a run on a Connor Joe and a Cameron Perkins double in the top of the first inning. The Storm Chasers answered right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the second inning, Connor Joe had his second hit driving in Jake Peter with a second run scoring on a Cameron Perkins single. In the third inning, the Dodgers tacked on one more on a Peter sacrifice fly as well as a run in the fourth on a Shane Peterson single following a Cameron Perkins double.  The Dodgers outhit Omaha 11-5 but still lost.

Photo Credit: AP/Jae Hong