Los Angeles Dodgers: Cody Bellinger On The Rise In Double-A
Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Cody Bellinger is white hot in August and might be the Dodgers’ first baseman of the future.
There were a lot of questions surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers’ prospect. Cody Bellinger hit 30 home runs for a 130 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) in the California League in 2015, but offensive production from that league has always been taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. The fact that he was also seventh in the league with a 27.6 strikeout percentage didn’t help.
He started the 2016 season on the disabled list and didn’t make his season debut for the Tulsa Drillers of the Southern League until April 30. He had two hits in that game and by the end of May he was slashing a respectable .235/.339/.451 with six home runs. Not terrible, but it wasn’t quite assuaging those concerns from earlier in the season.
Bellinger was steady through June and July with an identical .798 on-base plus slugging percentage in each month, but now he’s caught fire. From July 24 through Friday he slashed .291/.394/.547 and has six home runs. His 137 wRC+ entering Saturday was tied for third in the league. (Yesterday he went 0-for-4).
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What stands out this season is his turn away from the all-or-nothing hitter he was during his time in the California League. He cut his strikeout rate to 20.7 percent and his walk rate is up to 12.9 percent from 9.6 percent. His 0.62 walks per strikeout entering Saturday put him at seventh in the league.
The improvement in plate discipline hasn’t come at the expense of his potential to do damage by putting the ball in play. According to StatCorner, Bellinger’s fly ball (43.2 percent) and line drive (20.7) rates entering Saturday were two points higher than last season.
What changed is where those balls are hit. His pulled fly ball percentage is down precipitously from 61 percent last season to 48 percent this season. That diminished his home run output a little – he’s hit 10 percent of his balls in the air for home runs this season against 14.8 percent in 2015 – but it’s helped him cut down on strikeouts and be more productive overall.
If Bellinger can maintain or continue to improve that approach, he will have a good chance to become the Dodger’s next first baseman. Adrian Gonzalez will be a free agent in a few years but the Dodgers will probably want to replace him sooner than that because his power is draining fast: he’s hit just 12 home runs and was slugging .439 entering Saturday, the lowest since his .407 in 43 games for the Texas Rangers in 2005.
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The Dodgers are trying to win now, and their actions at the trade deadline showed that. Even though the farm system is a little less fertile than it was a month ago, Bellinger and other players like him still give the Dodgers one of the best farm systems in the game.