Cody Bellinger's Turnaround Continues

The Yankees took advantage of a Texas team that can’t hit its way out of a paper bag right now and limited the Rangers to five runs during a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are now 30-19 and lead the second-place Blue Jays by five games as they head out for a nine-game West Coast trip. Lets get to it. 

Things have really slowed to a crawl again and for some reason I just can’t convince all of you to click the picture of that baseball below and set up your free account at my new Mighty Networks site called The Ballpark. If you haven’t already, you’re missing so much, including some great in-game chats, but also the Pinstripe Past, Box Score Briefs and Battling Bronx Bombers content. There’s something to read every day there. Reminder, it’s still FREE. I’ve only had about 20% of you set up an account and I can’t figure out why that is.

I’ll admit that when the Yankees made the trade with the Cubs to acquire Cody Bellinger, I wasn’t overly excited.

But right now, I’m glad they did it because after a terrible first few weeks, the 29-year-old has been one of New York’s best players as he’s been on a hitting tear while playing flawless defense wherever Aaron Boone stations him in the outfield.

The defense was always going to be excellent because Bellinger is such a terrific athlete, but the inconsistent bat - which has been his biggest problem over the past six years - posed a quandary. The hope was that Yankee Stadium would help him with its short porch in right but also its vast left-center gap because he can go the other way, and that’s exactly what’s happening over the past month as Bellinger has raised his average from .173 to .257.

“He’s swinging at pitches he needs to be swinging at and his balance is where it needs to be,” Boone said the other day. “I really think it’s as simple as that.”

I understood why they made the deal to get Bellinger because at that point in mid-December they had a gaping hole at first base (Paul Goldschmidt didn’t sign until three weeks after Bellinger arrived), and there was unrest in the outfield with Juan Soto gone, Aaron Judge moving back to right field, and questions surrounding Jasson Dominguez. Plus, who knew that Trent Grisham would become the player he has been in the first seven weeks of the season.

My issue with Bellinger was the crazy swings to his career, and I didn’t know which version the Yankees were getting. He burst on the scene with the Dodgers in 2017 and while Judge was winning the AL rookie of the year award, Bellinger won it in the NL. He then played all 162 games in 2018 and performed well before having the best year of his career in 2019 when he smoked 47 homers, had 115 RBI and an OPS of 1.035 and won the NL MVP.

Bellinger was on a superstar track, but in the Covid year, while the Dodgers won the World Series, he took a step back and hit .239 in 56 games, then fell off the planet in 2021 and hit an anemic .165 in 95 games, missing some time with injuries. He was only slightly better in 2022 and the Dodgers essentially gave up on him by non-tendering him rather than pay him the $18 million he was due in 2023, a stunning fall for a former MVP in the prime of his career.

Suddenly a free agent, the Cubs took a swing, but after a promising 2023 when he hit 26 homers and drove in 97 while batting .307, his 2024 campaign was another step in the wrong direction. To get out of his contract, the Cubs traded him to New York and all it cost the Yankees was pitcher Cody Poteet, who didn’t even make the Cubs roster and he wound up in Baltimore.

At this point, it’s looking like one of the best trades Cashman has ever made. Before Bellinger’s 15-game hitting streak came to an end Wednesday when the Yankees completed a three-game sweep with a 1-0 victory over Texas, he had been on fire. During the streak, which is a new career-best for him, he slashed .377/.441/.689 and had an OPS of 1.130 with five bombs and 13 RBI.

“I feel like his approach is a little better,” Judge said of Bellinger’s run. “He really knows what he’s looking for when he steps in the box, and when he gets what he’s looking for, he’s not missing it.”

If this is the player Bellinger is going to be for the rest of the season, that’s a great situation for the Yankees. The key for him is going to be finding consistency because he has been an extreme peaks and valleys guy in his first eight years, and we’ve already seen a little of that in his short time with the Yankees.

For now, let’s enjoy the ride and the secondary run-producing he’s giving the Yankees behind Judge as his 29 RBI trail only Judge’s 44.

“For us, I really like what we’re doing,” Bellinger said. “I love the guys in this locker room. I think we’re playing really good baseball overall.”

May 20: Yankees 5, Rangers 2

➤ What is happening with Will Warren? One of the most surprising developments of the season is the sudden turnaround of this guy who I thought was never going to be anything more than a Triple-A arm. If what we’ve seen in his last three starts is real, that’s pretty big news for a team that needs a bump at the back end of the rotation.

➤ Texas’ offense has really been struggling, but that doesn’t take away from Warren going 5.2 scoreless innings and setting a new career-high with 10 strikeouts. He was locked in, spotting the fastball and putting hitters away with his breaking stuff. In his last three starts he has a 1.50 ERA and a .194 average against across 18 innings with 26 strikeouts and just three walks.

➤ Ben Rice keeps raking. He hit a solo homer in the second, then ripped a ball to center where he got robbed of a double on a nice catch by Sam Haggerty, but it still ended up being a sacrifice fly which gave him 22 RBI on the season. I’ve said this before, but I didn’t see this coming from Rice this season.

➤ Anthony Volpe finally did something productive with a blooper that he hustled into an RBI double in the sixth that made it 3-0, and then Judge’s eighth-inning two-run homer - a short porch job that at 326 feet was the shortest HR of his career - wound up being important because Ian Hamilton gave up a two-run homer to Jonah Heim in the ninth, followed by a triple to Haggerty. Boone had to bring in Luke Weaver to save the game, which he did on his second pitch.

➤ Oswald Peraza continues to be an awful offensive player with a .239 on-base, but what a nice catch he made tumbling over the tarp in foul territory. That ended up being a big play because later in that sixth inning the Rangers loaded the bases and nearly scored. The glove is undeniable, but until he hits, he’s never going to be a full-time player.

➤ Mark Leiter has quietly been pretty good this season. He makes us sweat a little too often, but that wasn’t the case in this game. Warren got into trouble in that sixth thanks to a walk and two bloop hits but Leiter came in and whiffed Joc Pederson to keep the game at 2-0. And then he needed only nine pitches in a 1-2-3 seventh, and Devin Williams tacked on his ninth scoreless inning in his last 10 appearances.

What they said in Tuesday’s clubhouse

• Warren on his turnaround: “I think I was close this whole time. It’s just … execution, just sticking to our plan and trusting that I’m here for a reason.”

• Judge on Warren: “It’s been fun to watch him grow and develop, especially this season. I see him making huge strides. He’s going to be a big piece for us down the road, and he’s a big piece for us now.”

• Judge on his homer: “That’s the shortest one? We’ll take it. It counts the same as the longest one, I think.”

May 21: Yankees 4, Rangers 3

➤ Quite a finish to this one with Jasson Dominguez walking it off with a mammoth second-deck shot to right in the ninth. That was a hell of a moment, and thank you very much to Rangers reliever Luke Jackson who could not have thrown a worse pitch. Talk about a meatball right down the middle, and thankfully Dominguez didn’t miss it. Hard to believe that was the Yankees’ first walk-off homer since Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam against Aroldis Chapman and the Pirates on Sept. 20, 2022. It was also a nice turnaround for Dominguez because in the first inning he left two men on by striking out.

➤ The way Jacob deGrom dominated the lineup for seven innings, this really felt like a stolen victory for the Yankees, and you need those every once in a while because you know you’re also going to piss away a few games which the Yankees have also done this year. deGrom looked like the old deGrom from his Mets days, two runs on three hits, a walk and nine strikeouts. However, the first pivotal moment for the Yankees came in the seventh when Bellinger took him deep for a solo shot right after Texas had taken a 3-1 lead, ending a string of 15 straight men retired.

➤ deGrom finished off the seventh, then turned it over to the bullpen and Robert Garcia, who had a 1.77 ERA, gave up a big run in the eighth as he walked Goldschmidt and Grisham, then gave way to Jackson who gave up Judge’s clutch RBI single to left to tie it. On that play, Grisham ran into an out trying to get to third. Originally I was pissed because why would he try to advance on a ball hit hard to left? But then I considered this: Maybe he did that on purpose so that the Rangers would cut off the throw because if it had been a good throw, I think Goldschmidt might have been gunned down. The Rangers did cut it, and Grisham also knew he had to stay in the rundown long enough for Goldschmidt to score, which he did.

➤ The Yankees survived a spotty night from the bullpen. In the seventh, Jake Burger hit his second homer of the game, the first off Ryan Yarbrough and the second off Tim Hill. Hamilton, who has been awful this year, then served one up to Haggerty. In the eighth, Yerry De los Santos got into a bases-loaded jam but Boone stuck with him because as we learned later, Fernando Cruz has a sore shoulder and wasn’t available. But then Boone inexplicably sent De los Santos back out for the ninth after Judge had tied it. I have no idea why he didn’t go to Weaver right there. It made no sense, and sure enough, Haggerty led off with a single. That’s when Boone went to Weaver, so why not start him off with a clean inning? Fortunately, Weaver went 1-2-3.

➤ How about Yarbrough? This was his third straight solid start, five innings with one run on three hits and no walks with eight strikeouts which is crazy given that he can barely throw 90 mph. He has been a godsend in the rotation, picking it up after Carlos Carrasco was sent packing. His ERA in the three starts is 2.57.

➤ We found out after that Cruz is on the 15-day injured list so Brent Headrick was called up. That’s not great because they need Cruz.

What they said in Wednesday’s clubhouse

• Dominguez: “It was awesome; my first walk-off. The first one is always special. As soon as I hit it, I knew that was my first walk-off, and I was enjoying it.”

• Boone on Dominguez: “He’s just not affected by great results or a struggling day. He just puts a smile on his face, goes to work and likes playing the game with his teammates. He’s real easy and fun to be around. But you’re really starting to see just how good a talent - you see him run, you see the speed, you see the power.”

• Judge: “That was a huge win going up against one of the greatest pitchers of our generation. That was a big-time win for us. He’d been making pitches all night, we really couldn’t get anything going ... To battle it out and fight all the way to the end and the homer was pretty special.”

May 22: Yankees 1, Rangers 0

➤ You can’t pitch much better than the Yankees did in this series. Carlos Rodon continued the heater he’s been on with six shutout innings during which only one man reached third base, and the Rangers had two baserunners in just two innings. He gave up two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Outstanding day for him.

➤ Leiter had one of those sweaty outings as he had a man on second with none out, then ultimately it was second and third with two outs before he struck out Josh Smith to protect a 1-0 lead. Devin Williams needed only 11 pitches for his easy eighth, and Weaver closed it again on just 10 pitches.

➤ It’s rare that the Yankees use relievers three days in a row, but here’s why they did it with Weaver. He threw only two pitches Tuesday, six on Wednesday, and this weekend the Yankees are playing the Rockies and they may not need him in any of those games so he can rest up, theoretically and hopefully. Good decision by Boone to let Weaver work all three games. It would have been dumb if he hadn’t used Weaver in a 1-0 game to lock up the win. There was zero reason to risk it with anyone else.

➤ The only run came from an unlikely source as Jorbit Vivas hit his first MLB home run in the fifth off Nathan Eovaldi who was tough as he always is, but his teammates gave him no run support.

➤ Bellinger’s 15-game hitting streak ended and Judge went for 0-for-3, just the eighth game in 49 that he’s gone hitless this year.

➤ The Yankees starting pitchers over their last 34 games have pitched to a 2.68 ERA and they’ve allowed three earned runs or fewer in 29 of those starts. Quite a change from early in the season when Warren, Carrasco and Marcus Stroman couldn’t get anyone out.

➤ The Rangers went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position in this series. They’re now hitting .227 as a team. The Yankees caught this team at a good time and took advantage.

What they said in Thursday’s clubhouse

• Boone on Rodon: “I tried to tell you this when he gave up those three-run homers (early in the season) and everyone was losing their minds. He’s about to roll off a bunch in a row. I think (all his starts) have been really strong. A pitch here and there in a couple of them, and he’d be at even another level. I just want him to focus on what that day is, the work. It’s in and around a really solid routine that he’s built the last couple of years. It’s not even focusing on the result of the outing, because those from time to time are going to be fleeting. If he focuses on what he needs to, day in and day out … those results are going to continue to be there. And he’s been excellent.”

• Weaver on Rodon: “I love when he pitches, I really do. Because starters have to find a way to navigate, and he just has a grit and tenacity about himself. Like every time he goes, he just grinds and he finds a way. There’s just a peace of knowing that when he goes out there, it’s 110% full effort. Sometimes it’s not going to be the best, but you have everybody’s respect because we know what we’re going to get out of you - and we’ll pick you up if we can.”

• Vivas on his home run: “My first one, finally. Very excited and happy about it. First thing I did was call my mom (in Venezuela). They’ve been there for me since I was a little kid. I’ll take it back home to Venezuela, give it to my family.”

The Yankees are now going to be out of the Eastern time zone for the next week-plus. They have a nine-game trip where they’ll play the awful Rockies, the mediocre Angels, and then the awesome Dodgers in a rematch of the 2024 World Series.

First things first, the Rockies, who at 8-42 are off to the worst 50-game start in MLB since the Yankees were born in 1903. It is really hard to be this bad, but the Rockies have done it and the White Sox - who set the modern day record with 121 losses last season - might be off the hook by the end of the year. They were 15-35 after 50 games last season. Anything less than a sweep in Colorado would have to be considered a disappointment for the Yankees.

Here are some of the Rockies top players to watch:

➤ C Hunter Goodman: He leads the team with 31 RBI and has a .25 in-base and .868 OPS.

➤ SS Ezequiel Tovar: A really slick fielder who is considered a future star, he missed a month with an injury but he’s back and hitting .289.

➤ CF Brenton Doyle: A two-time Gold Glove winner who hit 23 homers last year, but he’s struggling at the plate with a .282 on-base and just four homers.

➤ LF Jordan Beck: He leads the Rockies with eight homers but has just 16 RBI.

➤ RP Jake Bird: This seems to be the only guy who can get batters out as his ERA is 1.80 in 30 innings. The next closest ERA on the team among the guys who have pitched the most is Jimmy Harget at 3.75.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Friday, 8:40, YES: Clarke Schmidt (4.41 ERA) vs. a to be determined starter, and one can only imagine who that would be for a team with a rotation ERA of 7.03.

• Saturday, 4:10, YES: Max Fried (1.29) vs. Kyle Freeland (5.68) who has spent nearly nine seasons trying to get people out for the Rockies and this year has a brutal 1.599 WHIP.

• Sunday, 3:10, YES: Will Warren (4.05) vs. Antonio Senzatela (6.34) who leads MLB with eight losses and 84 hits allowed, leading to an incredibly horrendous 1.973 WHIP.