Cody Bellinger continued his hot streak with a huge night on Thursday, belting a two-run home run, lining an RBI single, and making a leaping catch at the wall in a 4-0 win for the Yankees to take the series against the Guardians.
Bellinger, who stumbled out of the gate to begin his New York tenure, has seemingly found his groove, and told reporters after Thursday’s win that he was trying to do too much when he first arrived in the Bronx, over-eager to prove himself as the consolation prize for losing out on superstar Juan Soto.
The numbers show that the former MVP was indeed pressing at the plate, but a calmer Bellinger has now become a major middle-of-the-order threat that the Yankees badly need alongside Aaron Judge.
First, the surface numbers are glaring when comparing Bellinger’s start to the past month of the season. Across his first 29 games, Bellinger hit a lowly .196 with three home runs and a .614 OPS. His last 27 games have seen the 29-year-old hit .317 with six homers and a .957 OPS. You can trace the start of his hot streak back to the past 34 games, as Bellinger has hit .307 with a .947 OPS in that span.
But perhaps the most telling stat that shows Bellinger rediscovering his poise is the 17 walks against 18 strikeouts in his past 34 games, while in the first 22 games of the year, Bellinger drew just seven walks while striking out 21 times.
When Bellinger says he was pressing and trying to do too much at the plate to start the year, that certainly seems like it’s the case. In April, the new Yankee posted a swing and miss percentage of 25 percent, and in May, he brought that down to 16.8 percent, per Statcast. His swing and miss percentage on chases out of the zone was a sky-high 43 percent in April, but in May, that dropped down to just over 26 percent. His batted ball data has mainly held steady throughout the year, suggesting the difference is in his plate discipline, which certainly coincides with a player who is pressing or not.
Even with his ugly start, Bellinger’s season OPS is creeping towards the .800 mark, currently sitting at .787, already better than the .751 he finished with last season. Not to mention he continues to boast one of the top fielding run values in baseball, as his range is in the 92nd percentile and arm strength in the 91st percentile, per Statcast.
The Yanks were hoping to acquire a player who could vastly improve the team’s outfield defense while provide enough offense to make up for Soto’s exit, and over the last five weeks, Bellinger has provided even more.