This is the first post in a new article series in which I will break down one hitter every day. My goal with this is to work through a bunch of different swings, approaches, etc, so that we can better understand what makes a hitter successful.
There are two especially hot rookies this year in the MLB. One of them is a nicely built tight end that decided he’d rather punish poor little baseballs. Yes I’m talking about this guy:
(Ya know, the guy who makes Chris Davis look small)
The other is Cody Bellinger.
(Hey there, Cody)
While Bellinger may not have quite the impressive stature that Judge has, he certainly has the production that Judge has. Through 64 games he has 24 HR’s, 14 doubles, and 56 RBI’s. Not bad for a 21 year old rookie! Let’s take a look.
Here are a few swings:
Normal speed:
Slowed down:
A lot of good things happening here.
We see him gather:
During this period he is hanging out on his back leg, gathering the pitch information. He is setting himself up to swing unless the pitch says no. He is coiling around that back leg and using that as his timing mechanism as his upper half gets closer to his launch “area”.
Here he has read the pitch, and is adjusting his body to launch, based upon where the pitch said it would be. This may be the most vital part of the swing. If your eyes give you the correct information, your body needs to be able to adjust to that and set up correctly to put a good swing on it.
Finally:
This clip starts a little early, but we basically see Bellinger just finish what he already started. He read the pitch during his forward move (first clip), he adjusted and set up his body to swing as he moved into footprint (second clip), and now he is just finishing that with a barrel turn. He gets the barrel out and crushes the baseball. Sexy.
One thing I suspect Bellinger may have a problem with is balls that are up in the zone, especially in. A quick look at his hot/cold chart would seem to agree:
He is going to hit the ball down pretty well, especially in. Why? His front arm works a little bit long:
Think about a golfer. They want to keep their front arm completely locked out. That works great for a ball on the ground, not so much when you have to be quick to a ball that’s elevated. That might be partly why he is hitting .264 while Judge is in the .320’s. Judge is able to stay a little shorter there and as a result is a little bit quicker. Of course I am not saying this will be a huge problem for Bellinger. He’s putting up these numbers as a 21 year old in the MLB, I really can’t tell him anything. However I suspect as pitchers begin to figure him out a bit more, they will start working up more often. Then, as great hitters usually do, I suspect Bellinger will adjust, over time, getting a little more efficient with the front arm.
That’s all for the first Daily Hitter. Keep an eye out for more!