What is Wrong With Cody Bellinger?

The Dodgers are #1 in the National League in OPS in both batting and pitching.

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Zach Reks is with the team on the taxi squad. He’ll be ready to fill in when Max Muncy leaves for the birth of his child, which is likely to happen sometime this coming week.

Today’s starting lineup, Bellinger, CF, Muncy, 1B, Turner, 3B, Smith, C, Taylor, 2B, McKinstry, RF, Pollock, LF, Lux, SS, Price P. Someone obviously has a lot of faith in Bellinger.

Here’s my take on Mookie. For the entire season (up until yesterday), I did not see Mookie run at his full, elite speed. There have been numerous times in the outfield when he would judge (early) a ball as uncatchable and then jog to get it knowing the hitter would get a double. Rarely did he run out ground balls at anything approaching his top speed. I kept saying to myself (I’m sure I am not alone) – he can’t cut it loose (his running). He is protecting something, some nagging injury.

Then yesterday, after his second double — we saw last year’s Mookie. Muncy hit a one-hop, sharp single to a charging leftfielder that very few players could score on. Mookie cut it loose and looked amazing, scoring easily, and I was like “WOW” finally he is really back!! My sentiment was, of course, short-lived as we know what happened: by going 100%, he aggravated the hip that has been bugging him all year.

To stay on the field, Mookie can’t cut it loose. I would not be surprised if he comes back soon, but we see the Mookie who makes tactical choices with his running. I also think (based on his fourth AB after the aggravate hip) that the hip may not bother him while swinging. That would be great news, because he has fixed his swing — hitting lasers to all fields, and it would be a huge lift to the team for him to be a part of the upcoming seven games against the Giants.

We’ve seen this for several years from JT — he knows if he runs 100% he’ll instantly pop a hammy. And he knows of his value to the team is is hitting, so he goes what seems like 50% most of the time around the bases. It looks kinda pathetic some times, but he is managing his body so he can stay on the field.

I am sure none of this is news to most of you — just felt like yesterday clarified what many of us were seeing/feeling.

Mets To Place Jacob deGrom On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | July 18, 2021 at 10:52am CDT

The Mets are placing Jacob deGrom on the injured list, manager Luis Rojas told reporters (including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News) this morning. He continues to deal with forearm tightness and won’t throw until that subsides.

It’s not an unexpected development after deGrom’s throwing program was halted yesterday. Nevertheless, it’s still a tough blow to a Mets team that holds a meager 2.5 game lead in the National League East. The diagnosis of forearm tightness and seemingly uncertain recovery timeline are even more alarming, given deGrom’s status as the best pitcher in the league. (deGrom underwent a Tommy John surgery as a prospect back in 2010).

deGrom has dealt with a few health issues over the course of the season. He missed a couple weeks with side tightness earlier in the year, and he’s also been forced out of starts early with forearm and shoulder soreness. Neither of the previous arm problems required an IL stint, but his most recent injury will land him on the shelf.

It’s so refreshing that everyone has turned their attention away from Pollock and onto Belli. It’s not hard to predict that that everyone will shift their focus to Seager if he comes back and doesn’t start hitting like Ted Williams right away.

Come to think about it, I haven’t heard anyone complain about the bullpen in a while.

I’m not worried about Belli at all. Most of his struggles right now are timing and chasing out of the zone. If you look at Shohei Ohtani’s stats from last year, you’ll see similar results. Now look at him.

Cody may have a down year this year, but there’s way too much talent there to suggest trading him, like MT says, when his value is at a career low. In a normal offseason, Cody will be able to work on his swing and build strength for the upcoming season. Last year, he was unable to do either, instead focusing on rehabbing the shoulder. People have very short memories, so I will remind them that Cody only appeared at the very end of Spring Training and then almost immediately suffered that freak broken leg.

I’m not buying the hole in his swing theory either. A couple years ago he went from being platooned against lefties to being the best left handed hitter against lefties the following year. This proves he’s capable of making an adjustment.

It might take another week or two for Cody to start getting back into a groove, but it will happen. He may not have superstar numbers when the season is done, but he’ll have his moments and he plays elite defense in CF and is a great baserunner. So, there’s value keeping him in the lineup regardless.

As we approach the deadline, the only real move that needs to be made is for some Bauer insurance. It seems like only Bueller can really be counted on a healthy starting pitcher. Everyone else has questions marks attached to them. If we can keep everyone healthy, we have enough to put together a solid Post-Season rotation. Bueller, Kershaw, Urias, Price and Gonsolin is enough to get the job done.

The bullpen is shaping into a force to be reckoned with. Darien Nunez is a pleasant surprise and Knebel suddenly ahead of schedule is akin to a big deadline score. Jansen, Knebel, Treinen, Kelly, Nelson, Bickford, Graterol, Nunez, V-Gone is deeper than I can ever remember. White, Vesia, Clevinger, Sherfy, Reed and Alexander provide unheard of depth.

Even with Cody’s struggles and Seager’s extended IL stint, we’re still the top offense in the NL and not far off of the Astros for the best in all of baseball. And we don’t play half of our games in a bandbox.

This team has been limping along all year and still have the second best record in the league. The Giants have played over their heads all year and are just one game up. In case you’re new to baseball, and I’m not going to say never, but this is going to change at some point. The Dodgers are a juggernaut and have had the worst luck out of any team that I can remember when it comes to injuries and the Bauer situation. With any karma, luck or law of averages, we will dominate the second half and continue our dominance with another NL West title and a lot of home field advantage with a rocking Dodger Stadium for another deep run.

It’s going to be interesting to see how they handle Lux and CT3 when Seages comes back. CT3 is going to be the main guy to spell Turner at 3B and to give a regular breather to Betts in order to keep those nagging injuries at bay. I think we can safely assume that the lineup against lefties will continue with Albert at 1B and Muncy at 2B. Lux will probably wind down to playing second 2-3 times a week and providing an occasional breather for Seags. I can see Z-Mack get a start once or twice a week to give Pollock a rest and Beaty will be sprinkled in late in games after Pujols gets pulled for a tough righty pitcher.

Mookie has been incredible these last 4 games. Hopefully this latest injury is just a minor setback. Corey and Cody will be the icing on the cake if they can perform close to their averages. If so, even with some starting pitching problems we will be the team to beat in the playoffs. This is a deep, talented team without a doubt when we are healthy.

I have faith in Cody Bellinger. I think he bounces back. Will it be this year? Not sure?

I think it’s a combination of a shoulder injury, limited spring and the leg fracture. Just an observation. But he’s not catching up with fastballs, hits some balls hard, but into the shifts. I really believe he needs to drop more bunts when they shift. He’s actually a very good bunter and has great speed.

You really don’t want him on base. He can steal, goes first to third on a hit or score on something in the gap.

But his swing is a little complicated and right now, he misses too many balls. Has he lost confidence? Probably. Doubt has to play into this, nature of the beast.

I still want Bellinger long term, believe he has the total package. Made a lot of big plays and had key hits in the playoffs last year. I don’t get the trade him for prospects mentality.

Sometimes you can listen to too many people and that ends up hurting you. Do this, do that. Best to clear your mind. See ball, hit ball.

Shipping Bellinger to the minors to fix his problems would weaken the Dodgers considerably on the defensive side.

Deep breath everyone.

Right now Bellinger’s stats are of a 4th outfielder who has defensive skills making 18 million per year . Is future fatherhood affecting him? How can you hit with the bat wrapped behind your head, with too many moving body parts and are late on center cut fastballs? Don’t the hitting coaches see this? He sometimes hits shit pitching ,but he is 5 for 51 in his last at bats and I cringe when he comes to the plate with runners in scoring position. If this continues he may have to be platooned or take a bus to Oklahoma City to work out his problems. He may never find his swing and right now I wouldn’t consider signing him long term.

I’m thinking-hoping Seager won’t have any difficulty returning to form and we’ll see the end of those close games on the losing end. What he does for a lineup ain’t easy to come by, hitting inspires hitting and now that it’s down to a sprint again Seager is exactly what the Doc ordered. I saw it all in a dream. And no fears. And what Mark said!

Makes sense to me.

I have my own old school techniques that I think would help him make contact, but clearly the “2 strike” approach of yesteryear goes against his nature. I’ve seen him go the other way on occasion, and that’s part of a solution, but choking up and thinking “back up the middle” is not.

Everyone can see the holes in his swing. The charts are there. He appears anxious, he’s late on fastballs up and he’s chasing. There are techniques to fix that. I’m confident that Cody and his instructors will remedy the problem and he will improve. In my opinion the first step is think – punish strikes and lay off balls. Easy to say, takes discipline to do. He will get there.

Agree! I know you can’t help how you look (well maybe you can), but he looks like he is strung out on something.

I am worried about Mookie again. great stretch of hitting. Now hip injury flaired up. We know a lot of ‘slumps’ are injury related. He says he is ‘good’. No player ever says he is playing thru injuries and should be sitting. Ok hoping for the best. Lets see what he does with a one day rest.

Hope you are correct, but I have my doubts. I will gladly genuflect if you are correct, but his prolonged pedestrian offensive numbers are not suggestive of a rebound. Perhaps this is who he is…a great defensive ball player, a great arm with great speed, but maybe, just maybe a very average offensive player.

I want to be wrong, but when I watch a game and see JT, Max, CT3 and even occasionally Will Smith come to bat I’m optimistic about a big and timely base hit. I have to admit I dread Belli coming up in a big moment knowing more often than not we’ll see a K or a pop up and a wasted AB with a scoring opportunity go to waste.

Believe me I’m a big fan of Belli even have his jersey that I wore proudly last Saturday to DS when we beat the snakes 22-1 (what a game by the way) but his offensive game is not fun to watch right now.