Cody Bellinger enters the 2025 season because the beginning heart fielder of the New York Yankees, after they acquired him from the Chicago Cubs over the offseason in a commerce that was basically a wage dump. A former MVP and Gold Glove winner who spent two seasons in Chicago after six with the Dodgers, Bellinger is coming off a 2024 marketing campaign that noticed him swat 18 residence runs, log a 109 wRC+, and put up 2.2 WAR in 130 video games.
In November 2016, Bellinger was a 21-year-old first baseman who’d spent the lion’s share of that 12 months raking in Double-A. The Scottsdale native ranked second on our Dodgers High Prospects record, which was revealed that month.
What did his FanGraphs scouting report appear to be at the moment? Furthermore, what does he consider all of it these years later? Curious to seek out out, I shared a few of what Eric Longenhagen wrote again in 2016 and requested Bellinger to reply to it.
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“He’s a wonderful defensive first baseman, garnering a number of 70 grades from scouts. He’s additionally seen time within the outfield, together with heart, and there are scouts who assume he may play all three outfield spots in a pinch — although the glove is so good at first base that no one will actively endorse it.”
“That’s fairly right,” Bellinger mentioned of Eric’s commentary. “In highschool, and my first years within the minor leagues, I used to be very, superb at first base. It wasn’t till 2015 that I performed some video games in heart discipline. It’s humorous. I used to be truly mad, as a result of I didn’t wish to play the outfield. I used to be younger and didn’t know something, so it was, ‘Put me again at first base, put me again at first base.’ My supervisor, [Bill] Haselman, was like, ‘No, you’re going to play some outfield. You’re a bit of too athletic, and the extra positions you play, the higher.”
“That energy comes from the monster hacks that Bellinger takes in all counts. He doesn’t defend or shorten up with two strikes and as a substitute he’s continuously threatening low-flying plane together with his unbelievable torque, hand pace, and uppercut swing.”
“Yeah, very right,” Bellinger mentioned. “Rising up, I used to be at all times the smallest child on the sphere. It wasn’t till my junior 12 months of highschool once I actually grew tall, so I used to be at all times enjoying with children who have been larger than me. I had to make use of every thing I had in my physique to swing. After I finally grew taller than my teammates — larger than my teammates — that mini model of myself was capable of develop into this larger model. That’s the place it stemmed from. In my childhood, I used to be at all times brief, enjoying up. I used to be small enjoying with the large boys, and felt like I wanted to swing tougher to maintain up with them.”
“Whereas he does attempt to pull every thing, he has strong plate protection.”
“I’d say I obtained a bit of extra pull-happy,” Bellinger acknowledged. “I feel that’s simply the place my swing advanced to. I stored my identical strategy, however realized tips on how to elevate the ball. The swing is at all times evolving. You’ve by no means obtained it discovered, so that you’re at all times making an attempt to make changes.
“After I was within the Cal League, which is a really hitter-friendly league — the ball flies in numerous the locations — I backspun just a few balls that went out. I used to be, ‘Oh, wow, that’s a distinct feeling.’ There was one ball I hit in Excessive Desert… that place was a launching pad. Lancaster, identical means. For hitters it was a dream. I used to be hitting balls and so they simply stored going. I used to be backspinning them true. That league is the place I really discovered tips on how to keep within, and backspin, a baseball.”
“I count on main league pitchers will feed Bellinger a gentle weight-reduction plan of offspeed pitches, particularly back-foot sliders, as soon as they see the swings he takes. However reviews on his make-up are good and he’s already proven the power to make changes in his younger profession.”
“Yep, the sport is stuffed with changes,” Bellinger mentioned. “The way in which you get pitched to in April goes to be totally different than the way you get pitched to in June. And every workforce goes to pitch you in another way, to their energy. That’s the cat-and-mouse sport all of us play, and all love. However I feel each lefty will get attacked with breaking balls in some unspecified time in the future. You simply must make the adjustment.”
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Bellinger has made a lot of changes over time, generally out of necessity. As my colleague Michael Baumann identified again in December, Bellinger “spent the ultimate two seasons of his Dodgers tenure battling a mess of accidents and a multi-year droop.” With that in thoughts, I concluded our dialog at Yankees camp with a query: Wanting again, did you perceive your self as a hitter at age 20-21?
“On the time, yeah,” Bellinger mentioned. “After I was 20, I knew myself. However I’m 29 now. Your mind modifications. Your physique modifications. Once more, it’s important to make changes.”