Spring Training Strikeout King Cody Bellinger Is As Optimistic As Ever

The Dodgers’ star and former MVP is living the good life. He’s not going to let a case of the preseason whiffs get him down.

Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. — For someone who has struck out in 14 of his 19 spring training at bats, six months after he hit .165, Cody Bellinger is remarkably cheerful.

A group of reporters approached the 26-year-old Dodgers center fielder at his locker at Camelback Ranch on Sunday to ask why he is so bad at baseball. He wanted instead to talk about why he is so bad at Ping-Pong. He had just suffered a loss, two games to one, to reliever Brusdar Graterol, who has his own paddle. To even the odds, Bellinger used Graterol’s paddle and Graterol used a standard one. Graterol’s paddle was at fault for the loss, Bellinger explained brightly. Similarly, he believes he is better at baseball than the numbers would suggest. “I feel very confident in what I’m doing,” he said.

As for all those strikeouts? “I’m just getting my punchies out of the way in … March? Are we in March? So they don’t happen in the season,” he said. “It’s pretty smart if you think about it that way.”

“More guys should try that,” I said.

“I think so,” he said. “Some guys hit .700 in spring. I’ve never done that. It’s good to get the punchies out of the way real early.”

“Was that kind of the plan for you last season?” I asked. “Save your hits for the playoffs?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly my plan,” he said. “I go about it in a different way. This spring I'm getting my punchies out early so I feel locked in for the season when it really matters.”

“Fatherhood has made you wise,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m a very intelligent human being now.”

Entering Monday, Bellinger has struck out in all but five of his spring training plate appearances :: Rick Scuteri/USA TODAY Sports

That sounds about right to his former teammate and good friend Joe Kelly, now of the White Sox.

“He’s always been in a good mood,” Kelly said. “If he was too smart for his own good, he would be always struggling mentally. He’d just be a Debbie Downer. But he’s always on the brink of—even if he’s not close, he’s like, ‘Oh, man, I’m about to figure it out. I’m right there.’ He always thinks he’s on the brink, even if he’s not on the brink.”

A year or two ago, Kelly and Bellinger played golf with Los Angeles lefty David Price and former Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson, who is now a Giant. They played foursomes and bet on every hole. All day, Kelly said, he carried Bellinger and Price carried Pederson.

“I think we took, like, two of Cody’s shots,” Kelly said. “And he was like, ‘See, without me we wouldn’t have won.’ I was like, ‘It’s me vs. David for all 18 holes!’ But he always feels like he’s right there, which is a good thing.”

That demeanor got its stiffest test last year, as Bellinger scuffled to by far the worst season of his career. He won the 2019 National League Most Valuable Player Award. Then he dislocated his right shoulder celebrating the home run that won Game 7 of the ’20 NLCS. That November, he had arthroscopic labrum surgery. In his fifth game of ’21, he broke his leg on a close play at first base. Two weeks after he returned, in July, he hit the injured list with left hamstring tightness. In September, Bellinger collided with left fielder Gavin Lux and broke a rib.

The only place Bellinger spent more time than on the injured list was in the batting cage. He tried to compensate for his weakened shoulder, then got lost. He opened his batting stance. He closed his batting stance. He lowered his hands. He raised his hands. He flexed his arms. He straightened his arms. He looked overmatched by everyone from Max Scherzer to the pitching machine. That .165 average was the second-worst figure in the sport among people who played at least half a season. In the playoffs, he went into what manager Dave Roberts called “survival and compete mode,” sacrificing power and just trying to make contact. He dropped his hands and hit .353 with one home run in 39 postseason plate appearances.

But this spring his hands are back up by his shoulders.

“His setup looks different every time I see him,” Kelly said. “He’s trying to figure it out. Maybe a little bit too much [tinkering]. But he’ll figure it out.”

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That is what the people around him try to remind him. Bellinger popped into manager Roberts’s office Sunday morning to ask what the manager was seeing from him.

“Be a good hitter first,” Roberts told him. “Don’t chase the slug.” He added that Bellinger needed to keep trying to simplify his stroke and that he thought it was just a matter of timing. The more pitches he sees, the better he will feel. Trust the work, he said, not the results. Roberts reassured Bellinger, but he did not have to do much comforting.

“He’s in a great mood,” Roberts said. “When a player starts, when it’s not going well, the clam-up, the moodiness, being afraid to have a conversation—he’s not like that, and that’s really telling.”

Bellinger hit .353 with one home run in 39 plate appearances last postseason after his woeful regular season :: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

On his way out of the facility after a day of cage work but no live at bats, Bellinger seemed surprised that anyone else was surprised he was doing fine. In November, he and his girlfriend, model Chase Carter, had their first child, a daughter named Caiden. And he said he has enjoyed fatherhood more than he expected to. On Sunday morning, he palled around at his locker with actor Rob Lowe. Bellinger will make $17 million this season and is eligible for free agency after the next one. His life is pretty good.

“I mean, I wasn’t sad last year, either,” he said, although he admitted he felt frustrated as the playoffs got closer and his swing did not. And now, after an offseason does not seem to have cured what ails him?

“I feel like if you get down on yourself in spring training, you’re f-----,” he said. “I feel good. I feel strong. I feel close.”