Currently tied with Wally Berger and Frank Robinson, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger needs one more home run to set the NL rookie record.
Despite spending the first three weeks of the season in Triple-A, Los Angeles Dodgers’ first baseman Cody Bellinger needs just one more home run this season to set the rookie record for National League hitters. The current record of 38 long balls is jointly held by Bellinger, Wally Berger, and Frank Robinson. Bellinger has 13 games left in the regular season to set the new mark.
Before making his major league debut on April 25, Bellinger crushed the ball in his first 18 games with the Oklahoma City Dodgers, hitting .343/.429/.627, with 5 home runs in 77 plate appearances. With that kind of production, it may seem strange that he didn’t start the year with the big league club, but he hadn’t hit well in spring training (.207/.294/.345) and the Dodgers were set at left field and first base. When Joc Pederson was placed on the DL with a right groin strain, Bellinger got the call.
He didn’t homer in his first four games, but exploded for two dingers in his fifth game. That was the start of a tear in which he hit 22 home runs in 48 games from May 5 to June 25. He had 25 four-baggers by the All-Star Break and was invited to participate in the Home Run Derby as a number three seed. After beating Charlie Blackmon in the first round, Bellinger ran up against the manchild, Aaron Judge, and was defeated in the semifinals. Judge went on to win the Derby.
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Speaking of Judge, he is one of only two rookies in MLB history to hit more home runs than Bellinger. The other is Mark McGwire, who holds the record with 49 bombs in 1987. Judge is sitting on 43. If Bellinger can hit just one more four-bagger, he and Judge will hold two of the top three spots in home runs by a rookie. That would be fitting for a season in which more home runs will be hit than ever before.
The two guys Bellinger is tied with are an interesting pair. Berger’s 38 home runs in his debut season with the Boston Braves in 1930 was the most he ever hit in his career, although he did have two seasons later with 34 circuit clouts in 1934 and 34 again in 1935. He’s not a household name these days, but Berger was fourth in the NL in FanGraphs WAR for the decade of the 1930s.
Frank Robinson is much more well known, both as a Hall of Fame player and longtime manager and front office executive. His 38 home runs as a rookie for the Cincinnati Redlegs (as they were known at the time during the heyday of Joseph McCarthy spreading fear about communism) helped him win the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1956. The vote was unanimous. In his 21-year career, he only topped his rookie mark twice. He hit 39 for the Reds in 1962 and 49 for the Orioles in 1966.
Next: Who has the better career - Judge or Bellinger?
Bellinger should be able to bump Berger and Robinson down a notch on the NL rookie home run record list. He has 13 games left to hit one home run. So far this year, he’s never gone more than 11 games without a long ball. With four upcoming games against the Philadelphia Phillies and their 4.68 team ERA, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bellinger break the record in The City of Brotherly Love.