Cody Bellinger’s scorching spring encouraging for future

It happens every year. There’s a young prospect who has a great spring training, yet has zero chance of making the ballclub. Yasiel Puig was that guy a few years ago (kinda). This year, it’s Cody Bellinger.

Dodgers
Brewers
1:05 p.m.
Maryvale, Ariz.
LF
Crawford
3B
Walsh
2B
Utley
C
Lucroy
C
Grandal
LF
Braun
3B
Guerrero
RF
Santiago
CF
Thompson
1B
Middlebrooks
1B
Segedin
CF
Liriano
SS
Culberson
2B
Perez
RF
Noel
SS
Rivera
P
Kazmir (L)
P
Nelson (R)
Padres
Dodgers
1:05 p.m.
Glendale, Ariz.
CF
Jay
2B
Kendrick
2B
Spangenberg
RF
Puig
RF
Kemp
3B
Turner
1B
Myers
1B
Bellinger
3B
Solarte
SS
Hernandez
C
Norris
C
Ellis
SS
Ramirez
CF
Pederson
LF
Upton
LF
Brown
P
Erlin (L)
P
Bolsinger (R)

While I ranked him my No. 5 prospect, even I didn’t think he’d hit as well as he has this spring.

  • 21 plate appearances
  • 10 hits
  • 2 doubles
  • 1 home run
  • 6 walks
  • 4 strikeouts

While the contact and pop is nice, what’s more impressive is the fact he has walked more times than he has struck out.

He’s starting at first base for the injured Scott Van Slyke (hip flexor; it’s minor) and the absent Adrian Gonzalez (World Baseball Classic final qualifier today).

Here’s the home run he hit off Randall Delgado on Friday.

It was a legitimate blast to left-center field off a decent MLB pitcher. That’s encouraging. He’s really quiet before the pitch is delivered and lets the ball travel into the strike zone. His bat is really quick and he has some natural loft to his swing.

Bellinger’s power is to the pull side, but it’s really encouraging to see him hitting the ball with authority the other way at such a young age (20). It’s an extremely small sample size and he needs to show it in-game, but there’s no doubt he has been impressive this spring. He is the Dodgers’ first baseman of the future.

Can it be real baseball yet?

About Dustin Nosler

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Dustin Nosler began writing about the Dodgers in July 2009 at his blog, Feelin' Kinda Blue. He co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jared Massey called Dugout Blues. He was a contributor/editor at The Hardball Times and True Blue LA. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with his bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in digital media. While at CSUS, he worked for the student-run newspaper The State Hornet for three years, culminating with a 1-year term as editor-in-chief. He resides in Stockton, Calif.