Aaron Judge has been the headline stealer among rookies this season. The Yankees have surged into first place in the AL East, and the rookie slugger has been a vital cog. His tape measure home runs are the stuff that will become legend to our grandchildren. Meanwhile though on the West Coast, there is a swell of power emerging. The NL West has a logjam at the top, and it may take a Herculean performance to break away from the pack. Like his freshman brethren in the AL, Cody Bellinger has taken the lead in the NL home run race. His summer power trip may just be what the Dodgers need to put themselves over the top.
Coming out of high school, Cody, the son of former Yankee Clay Bellinger, was both a pitcher and a hitter. He hit for average but the power wasn’t there like many of his draft contemporaries. That stayed true during his first couple years in the Minors, as his average hovered around .300 for his tenure in Rookie ball over parts of 2013 and 2014. In 2015, that all changed.
Once he hit A-ball, Bellinger started hitting the ball out of the ballpark. In an era where the little things became more magnified, Cody went full on “Chicks Dig The Long Ball” mode. He sacrificed average and parked 56 homers over the next two years over three levels. But the player progression was still there. He curtailed his strikeouts from the initial power surge, and in turn upped his walk rate. Even with all this, few foresaw the 21-year-old taking the National League by force this early.
The past two months have seen Bellinger put himself on a record-breaking bender. Two home runs in two innings against Zack Wheeler made him the fastest to 21 home runs in MLB history. He’s already tied the Dodgers franchise record for most multi-home run games by a rookie. That mark was held by current Hall of Famer Mike Piazza who had five such contests in 1993. It’s just June. Just imagine what the numbers would be like if he didn’t spend the first two-thirds of April in Triple-A.
With the state of the Dodgers pitching staff having trouble with the long ball themselves, the Dodgers are going to need Bellinger to pile up more records. Clayton Kershaw was on the bump last night, and he gave up four home runs to the Mets. The perennial Cy Young candidate is behind only John Lackey and the soon-to-retire Bronson Arroyo in home runs allowed in the NL. There are going to be plenty of shootouts in Chavez Ravine this year.
As a Dodgers fan, I want to see this prolific run produce an All-Star Game berth for Bellinger. He’s not on the ballot, but we are writing him in like crazy. It’d be a shame if he wasn’t a manager’s selection by Joe Maddon. But please, for all of us who bleed blue, keep him away from the Home Run Derby. I saw what it did to Bobby Abreu and Josh Hamilton post-Derby over the years. While it would be a grand time for all those in Miami, Bellinger deserves to save all those swings for breaking more records this year. Piazza’s 35 HR rookie record is halfway done. So is Sammy Sosa‘s 11 multi-HR game mark. Going for those, as well as an NL West title, is exponentially more important.