Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES — What a difference a couple of weeks make! As the Dodgers broke camp in early April, there were voices who were wondering whether or not Cody Bellinger should even be on the Opening Day roster. Now, 15 games into the season, that same Cody Bellinger is your NL Player of the Week. His stats for the week are as impressive as they are surprising:
- Hit .304 (7-for-23) with three runs scored, two doubles, a triple, three home runs, seven RBI and an .870 slugging percentage across six games.
- Delivered his first multi-home run game of the season in yesterday’s win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
- Has logged seven multi-hit efforts over the Dodgers’ first 15 games of the 2022 campaign and enters play today with a .273/.333/.582 slash line.
- Currently paces the first-place Dodgers in home runs (4), total bases (32) and slugging percentage.
Now, of course, there is no telling what comes of the long 2022 campaign, and there are still some troubling signs about Belli’s game (particularly his strikeouts and chase rate). However, this version of Cody Bellinger is just so much better than anything anybody expected after seeing him struggle the last few years.
“It’s a different type of grind when you’ve done things kind of your whole life and it’s just not working out,” Bellinger said after Sunday’s two-homer performance. “You have to kind of adjust. Just got back to the basics and feeling good and just continuing to ride out the wave, ride out the season.”
So far, at least, Belli is riding the wave very well indeed. Even in his struggles, Dave Roberts insisted that he was putting in the work every day, but he just wasn’t seeing the results. Now that the results are here, everyone in the clubhouse is taking notice.
“Coming off the shoulder surgery and all those things, that’s a challenge for anybody,” said pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who was the beneficiary of Bellinger’s offensive outburst on Sunday. “But he grinded through it, didn’t say anything about it. Coming into this year, we all had high hopes for him. But for him to do what he’s doing right now is awesome. I know we’re all happy for him, and we need it.”
Indeed. Let’s hope the performance that was recognized today continues all through the summer.
