What is Wrong With Cody Bellinger?
Here we are the Dodgers have just 69 games left to play and Cody Bellinger is hitting .173! Of course, everyone has a theory of why he is doing so poorly. He s not a superstar His career stats say otherwise. He has lost his confidence. You know this how? He won t listen to the coaches. I know for a fact that is not true. The Dodgers should
Here we are… the Dodgers have just 69 games left to play and Cody Bellinger is hitting .173! Of course, everyone has a theory of why he is doing so poorly.
- “He’s not a superstar” – His career stats say otherwise.
- “He has lost his confidence.” – You know this how?
- “He won’t listen to the coaches.” – I know for a fact that is not true.
- “The Dodgers should trade him.” – Yeah, that’s smart – when his is hitting poorly, it would be a buyers market (i.e., his value is low). It would be felony stupid to trade him now.
What is wrong with Cody Bellinger is that he has battled his shoulder problems for three years, had surgery, was out for an extended time, came back, and had the leg issue which set him back again. He is adjusting to his rebuilt shoulder and re-tooling his swing, getting his timing back, fighting to not try too hard, and all of the things that come with being an MLB hitter.
In June of 2019, the great Mookie Betts (who does not have the long swing of Bellinger), in 127 AB’s hit .217. In 127 AB”s this year, Cody is hitting .173 and striking out 33% of the time. His career strikeout percentage is 25%. What’s wrong with Cody is NOTHING! It’s a slump, pure and simple, caused by surgery, recovery, and a long rehab. When Corey Seager comes back, Cody just needs to slide down to the #6 spot. Realize he does not have to carry the team and get his swing and confidence back.
Hitting is a large part “CONFIDENCE” and the only way you get it back is to keep hacking. Cody’s career OPS is .889, which is still higher than Mookie Betts. Cody just needs to do what Mookie did and work on making his swing as repeatable as possible. I am sure he is pressing and a day off will not hurt, but he needs to keep hitting. I believe Cody Bellinger is a TOP 10 player in baseball and the cream will rise to the top.
Patience Grasshoppers.
Photo compliments of LA Dodgers
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Discussion (105)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Wow, they are a game out, and the rats are deserting the ship. You guys amazed me. A bunch of grown men bawling like little kids who dropped their ice cream because their hero’s had a bad game and lost. That’s called baseball people. Sometimes the ball takes a bad hop at the wrong time, and boom, all of a sudden the opponent scores big. Takes Betts last hit in Saturday’s game, the Rocks CF, Hampton, had that ball in his glove, and then he and Blackmon ran into each other and the ball popped out. Forced to use a bullpen game, you blame Roberts for the lack of execution by players he put in the game. He is not out there throwing 2 strike pitches right down Broadway, the pitchers are. How about the offense, 17 more left on base, and 12 more strikeouts. The two guys at the top of the lineup, the table setters, went a combined 0-9. Is that Roberts fault? The prior game they went 8-9. With 3 HR’s. Kenley Jansen blew a save for the first time in weeks. Bickford made a couple of bad pitches, and did not have real good control, but lately he has been nails. Reed is a marginal pitcher with a funky delivery and he gives up 1 run, and the world goes nuts. Coors Field has one of the worst infields in the majors according to the players. Vassage and Charlie were talking about how the players had been complaining about it all weekend. The Rockies, despite their place in the standings, have played a lot better of late, and they have some guys in their lineup who can actually hit. Kenley’s biggest mistake was giving a cookie to the leadoff hitter in the 9th with 2 strikes, and now it is almost like extra innings because there is a man on second and no outs. How about giving Rockies hitters some props for doing it the right way and getting him in on two sac fly’s. Smith and Turner combined for all the offensive output yesterday, and outside of Pollocks 2 singles, they got no help from the rest of the team. And the injury bug hits again. They said Lux’s hammy was more like a cramp, and he might have been dehydrated. That happens a lot at altitude if you do not drink liquids. I know, I live here. The Giants are now here, and there are 12 days to the deadline. Please TM, do not embarrass yourself and come up with trade proposals that make no sense to the front office what so ever. Neither Bellinger or Lux are going to be traded. They might end up having to send Cody down to AAA to get his head straight. There are really no offensive options in the minors to replace him. Peters is hitting .242, but striking out in 1/3 rd of his at bats. Reks and Raley have been hitting down there, but neither has shown much with the big club. Muncy will miss a game or two this week with his wife ready to have their child, and their focus at the trade deadline will be starting pitching. Kershaw will not be back until August, Price did a decent job yesterday, but still has not stretched out enough. So they are doing it and staying competitive with basically 3 starters. Urias, Buehler and Gonsolin. And even Tony has still not been stretched out much. Smoke and mirrors there boys.
Very disappointing defeat as they always are when they happen late.
Cody’s career path reminds me of our former Phenom – Yasiel Puig.
He arrived and took MLB by storm, but obviously had some issues that for whatever reason couldn’t be addressed.
We then persevered for way too long, before trading him away for far less than we could have had.
Some saw the flaws and suggested trading him very early in his Dodger’s tenure because they didn’t believe he would become the player many thought he would – mainly because he lacked the desire and maturity to take advice and therefore evolve as a player.
I see many similarities here. Cody like Puig undoubtedly has the tools – but is he capable of utilising them? Maybe his value is actually as high as it’s going to be at this moment?
I’m still in his camp, but allowing for the healing injuries, I’m not seeing much effort to change.
On a different note, good to see most of the old guard back here, Pete, Badger, Bums, and well played Collin Morikawa – that boy is gonna win a lot of golf tournaments.
Bring on the Ryder Cup.
Predictably, when the Dodgers lose, the panic emerges.
Someone asked about trading Bellinger. I am certain that about every GM would be interested, but with the slump he is in you would be selling low. They woukd want a discount.
Damn this ain’t the Titanic, but I’m figuring some are stowing some sh–t in the life boats…
Hasn’t it been established that SF has exceeded freaking expectations and the Madres will fade???
Belli, I’m more worried that the torque he puts his body thru with his swings will really screw him up… I’m no kinesiologist, but I got with Mike Marshall and he agreed…
I truly hope Seager isn’t reading any of the fish wraps or blogs, because he’s going to be watched his every move… May the baseball gods be with him…
Happy with D. Price today, but wished a few more inning were in the chamber…
We gotta win 3 of the next 4??? If not, what do I do??? Get ready for College football or the Olympics???
I know AF is holding daily skull sessions with the staff and he’ll make a move or two.. I don’t, repeat don’t want to deplete our minors…
If I got free tix behind home plate for Rev. Timmons and a plane flight would he go to SF and enjoy the ‘City’???
DH for Cody??? The fentanyl made TM say that….
How does a team that is this talented continue to lose the one run and extra inning games? Does anybody else think that Roberts holds most of the blame? His in game management has always been questioned and the results show
that he doesn’t know how to put the right players in a position for us to win the close games. Totally frustrated with the lineups that make no sense…hoping that Seager’s return will lead to a regular lineup that will be balanced and productive!
Earlier today I suggested that batting Belli leadoff might change his mindset for the better and not have him swinging for the fences on every at bat. I was wrong. Apparently he is unwilling or unable to change his approach.
Therefore, since his defense is very valuable, since I doubt they will bench him or send him to OKC, and since it looks like our regular #8 hitter is going to the IL with a hamstring problem, I am now suggesting we bat him 8th for the foreseeable future. The one exception would be on Urias starts, where we would bat Cody 9th.
Once he pulls himself over the Mendoza line, Doc can decide where he would best be used in the lineup, but in the meanwhile, he needs to hit where his production suggests he should hit.
2 more unearned runs. Actually 3 I believe. Turner should have fielded that grounder he olé’d. With this defense we need to score 7 every night.
Great defense today by JT and CT3 and yes that’s sarcasm. Lux to the IL while Seager is activated. I’m predicting we won’t miss Lux’s bat.
Defense and Kenley are to blame for this loss. Dodgers fumbled away two runs and Kenley blows the save.
Could have caught the Midgets today. Bellingers now hitting below .180 ??
Wow, this is an epic struggle Belli fights here. Hope Seager comes back fast and is hitting. Lux probably going on the IL. Looked like a strain to me.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My spanish is weak, but did Jose put this on Roberts??? Oh well, Doc hasn’t been racked lately..
What a day, much to the chagrin of my wife… The Open followed by Dodger baseball!!!
2 out of 3 @ CO… I’ll take it and head home for some home cooking…
No Betts, and basically no Lux or Bellinger, if your main contributors like Muncy and Taylor have a bad day, it makes your line up very vulnerable. it puts a lot of pressure on the bullpen. they’ve been very good lately but they can’t do it every day
Well that sucked. Guy who has not hit a homer since June 1st walks it off, 2 blown saves in one game. At least the Padres and Giants both lost. Now we get SF for 4 in our yard, need at least 3 of 4.
El juego de hoy 100 % pérdida de Roberts
Friggin bullpen.
I’ve said I was hopeful about Bickford but now it is looking more and more like he is a ROOGY.
I hate the three batter minimum rule.
Hey Mark, something you said in your article has been gnawing at me, so I would like to get this off my chest if that’s okay with you.
You said to try to trade Cody this year is just stupid because no team would offer much in Return because of his down year.
Now let’s play with that thought for a while. So, what I’m hearing from you is …. there isn’t a team out there who would give up much in order to acquire the former MVP who is only 26 years old. Who would give up much for a .170 hitter, right? Is that an accurate statement?
So, if Cody is so good and if you are so convinced Cody can and will turn this around and be the man he was 3-4 years ago, why aren’t there any of these baseball GMs convinced of such as you are? I mean, why would they only be willing to give up marginal prospects and not go any higher if the Dodgers said no to those trade proposals for marginal players? Surely, if they truly believed Cody can and will turn it around wouldn’t they be offering players that are substantial enough to make the Dodgers seriously consider doing it?
So, as I am hearing you, all these teams don’t want Cody that badly to give up top prospects not so much because Cody is having an off year, but maybe because they don’t believe the Cody of 3-4 years ago will come back. I mean if I was assured, like you, that the Cody of old will return, You better believe I would ante up in order to acquire this huge talent. I mean after all….he can run, he can play the OF or 1B, he can hit for power…he was the closest thing to Superman a few years back. Hell yeah, if I knew he will be that guy again, I would make sure I get him, even if it means giving up top prospects. After all, you have to give up something to get something, right? Why would these teams not open their coffers to get Superman? Maybe it’s because there isn’t one GM out there who is convinced like you are that Cody could be the man again.
In conclusion….the Dodgers wouldn’t trade cody for peanuts….but I wonder if there is any GM out there who would offer more than peanuts based on their belief that this Cody of 2020 /2021 will go away and the cody of 2017/18 will return.
This is Belli’s chance to come up big!
Lux pulls a hammy running out his infield grounder in the 9th. We might miss his glove, but his bat not so much.
If we hang on to win today, I would call this a GREAT WIN.
To win without Red Hot Mookie, Marvelous Max having an off day, two automatic outs plus the pitcher……amazing, just amazing. (Now watch Jansen blow it in the 9th.)
Smith bomb for the lead.
GIANTS LOSE!!!!!!
Where is the offense today?
Small sample for sure but Bellinger is now 0-11 with 6 K’s lifetime batting 1st in the order.
Turner has definitely lost a lot on defense at 3rd. Can still hit but not the high fastball. He is still a quality and clutch Mlb player but age is slowing skills sadly.
Well, Cody misses a strike 3 cookie by 6”.