Dodgers: Cody Bellinger Working on Swing with New Hitting Gurus

Former Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger is ready to make some noise with a new team

The patience ran thin within the Dodgers organization. Despite the high level of play in the outfield for Cody Bellinger, the Dodgers were not willing to pay him $17 million due to his struggles with hitting.

As any true professional would, Bellinger went right back into the lab to perfect his craft. The next team he plays for who takes the chance on his hitting struggles can come out with a gem in the off-season.

Besides the mental aspect of the game, especially for someone who has slowly regressed since his MVP season, his stance and motion of swing needed to change as well. A tighter swing relative to the shoulders might be the adjustment he needs but clearly there is plenty of work left to do. 

Typical social media wants to talk about all the negatives.

You can see obvious progress early in the off season.

Look at how much tighter the barrel stays relative to the shoulder to contact point pic.twitter.com/ghwkxmctWv

— Trey Hannam (@TJHannam10) December 2, 2022

During Bellinger's 2019 MVP season, he had a.305 batting average with 47 home runs and 115 RBI's. Since 2020, Bellinger's batting average plummeted to .203, including a career worst .165 in 2021, to go along with 41 home runs and 134 RBI's during the three year span. 

While the numbers dipped, the bright side for Bellinger is that there is only one way to go from here, and that's up. A championship contender may be willing to remain patient with Bellinger throughout the course of a season, but the Dodgers simply can't afford being patient with other positions of need. 

The hope is for the Dodgers to find a cheaper option to replace Bellinger, even if it calls for the same skillsets. Dodgers fans will wish the best for Bellinger as he looks to get back on track.