ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Cody Bellinger leaned against the railing of the visitors dugout at Tropicana Field on Wednesday. He was well aware that he and his teammates were in a dreadful slump with runners in scoring position. He also knew he was not hitting for enough power. But he trusted those things would come in due time.
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“When things are rolling well, it seems like hitting is contagious,” Bellinger said. “When they’re not rolling well, (we all) want to bring that sigh of relief to the team and get that big hit to get things going. It makes it harder on yourself when you put that pressure on yourself.”
Bellinger slugged 26 home runs last season. It was his fourth season in which he’d hit 25-plus homers but his first since his 47-homer, MVP campaign in 2019. Entering play Wednesday, Bellinger had hit eight home runs, but he had just one home run since May 11. His ISO was .179 — not bad but nearly 40 percentage points below the mark he delivered last season.
“It just goes back to my approach, which I’ve been satisfied with,” Bellinger said. “Sometimes I haven’t succeeded with it. I go up there with the right intentions, and (sometimes) it doesn’t work out how I want, which is frustrating. But overall, in my head, the quality is there. The consistency of the work and the at-bat, I feel good. But I want more and I expect more out of myself.”
Part of the issue is that Bellinger is chasing pitches at a career-high rate of 32.1 percent. It’s gotten worse as the season has progressed. As his chase has gone up, the power has gone down.
Bellinger is aware of the issue but said by thinking too much about it, he could go too far in the other direction — “then you’re being passive.”
The Chicago Cubs’ struggles with runners in scoring position continued Wednesday; they went 1-for-6 in those situations and left nine men on base. Their .176 batting average with runners in scoring position since April 27 is last in baseball, nearly 30 percentage points below the next-worst team.
Bellinger also continued his trend of chasing pitches out of the zone. In the fifth inning with the Tampa Bay Rays leading 2-1, Bellinger came up with men on the corners and two out. He quickly fell behind 1-2, then chased a curveball down to end the threat.
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Two innings later, Bellinger got a chance at redemption. It was two men in scoring position with two outs, the score the same as his prior at-bat. This time Bellinger got a 90 mph cutter at the bottom of the zone that he hammered 407 feet to right for a three-run homer, giving the Cubs a 4-2 lead in a game they’d go on to win 4-3.
Cody Bellinger is swinging
The @Cubs are leading pic.twitter.com/rA86IdDQX4— MLB (@MLB) June 13, 2024
“That last at-bat, I didn’t come through,” Bellinger said. “He threw me a good pitch, and I kind of tip my cap to that one. But I was frustrated. My next at-bat, I was lucky to come up with almost the same situation. I kept it simple and wanted to get the job done. I continued to look for my pitch and put a good swing on it.”
The hope for the Cubs has to be that this is the start of something big for Bellinger and the offense. Despite their struggles with runners in scoring position continuing, they continue to hit the ball hard with little to show for it. The Cubs hit four balls over 100 mph that went for outs. Three times this series, Seiya Suzuki hit a ball over 107 mph that didn’t fall for a hit. He did put the Cubs on the board Wednesday with a solo shot to start the fourth.
It was generally a frustrating winter for Cubs fans. They saw their team avoid spending big to add the type of middle-of-the-order bat it so desperately needs. It was frustrating for Bellinger, too, whose second dip into free agency, this one coming off a strong bounce-back 2023 season, did not go as hoped. But despite lingering on the market through the offseason and into spring training, Bellinger was happy to return to Chicago.
Once that process had finished, he put it in the past.
“Last offseason, I hadn’t even thought about it,” Bellinger said. “Especially once spring training started. For me, the task at hand is getting better and trying to win games. We’ve got a great group of guys. I wanted to come back and help this team win. I expect more out of myself and strive every day for that.”
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Bellinger has to do more for the Cubs offense to thrive. His two-hit night has him at a 118 wRC+ on the season and pushed his ISO up 10 percentage points to .186. Before the game, manager Craig Counsell said he felt Bellinger was on the verge of turning it on.
“I do think he’s getting to a really good place,” Counsell said. “He where he’s supposed to be. He’s off to a good start, maybe not a great start. But I think the great part is coming.”
Hitting coach Dustin Kelly said Bellinger walks “a fine line” with his chasing but has incredible bat-to-ball skills, which allows him to do so and not strike out at a high rate. With just a 16.8 percent strikeout rate, Bellinger’s swing-and-miss isn’t really a concern. So the coaches don’t make much of it unless they see a reason to.
“He can cover the outside of the zone and put those balls in play,” Kelly said. “Once we see it start to trend in the other direction with maybe more soft contact, then we’ll try to rein it in a little bit. With two strikes he’s always covered away, he’s covered the top half of the zone for the most part. There’s a balance. His swing feels good right now, his body feels good. So we want him to be aggressive and looking to do damage.”
Pitchers are going in on Bellinger, and he’s swinging at those pitches and allowing them to get ahead. That allows them to go away, and though Bellinger can cover those pitches, he doesn’t do much damage with them, which is the pitcher’s preference. So laying off those inside pitches is going to be key.
“It’s more of getting back to knowing how good he can be in his part of the zone and making sure that he’s getting his A-swing off when those pitches come and not taking them,” Kelly said. “He’s done a great job of not taking those. But also knowing there are times to slug and look to drive the ball in the gap.”
Bellinger was able to do that quite well Wednesday. More of that slug, especially with runners on base, will be key as the Cubs look to find their rhythm on offense. Bellinger carried this offense once before. If he can do it again, perhaps the Cubs can finally turn their season around.
“Three-run homers change games,” Counsell said. “That swing certainly changed the game. It was a big swing at a time we needed it, and it held up.”
(Photo of Cody Bellinger after his home run: Jonathan Dyer / USA Today)
Sahadev Sharma is a staff writer for The Athletic and covers the Chicago Cubs. Previously, Sahadev was a national baseball writer for Baseball Prospectus and ESPN Chicago. Follow Sahadev on Twitter @sahadevsharma
