Why Cody Bellinger’s 2019 Start is the Greatest of All-Time

After an offseason filled with adjustments to his game to help improve on a season where he batted just .260 to average with twenty-five home runs, Cody Bellinger has come out of the gates in 2019 with a type of determination that has never before been displayed by a player this early into a season. Whether it’s been shattering records, making highlights, or just plain being there when his team needs him the most, Cody Bellinger has been out of this world this past month-worth of games.

Stuffing the Stat Sheet

Here’s a quick look at Bellinger’s stat-line as of April 30th, and how he stacks up against everyone else in the major leagues:

Along with standard and advanced metrics of Bellinger’s total success at the plate, he has been incredible in clutch splits.

• In two-strike counts: .357 AVG
• In full counts: .750 AVG
• With two outs: .351 AVG
• With RISP: .481 AVG
• Within two runs: .435 AVG
• High leverage situations: .368 AVG

Cody Bellinger has led the league in each and every offensive statistic through the end of April, earning a triple crown and has done so at a historic pace. Bellinger has tied, set, and broken records this month in a way that has never been seen before.

Historical Significance

Major League Baseball’s three career leaders in OPS, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig, posted their career high’s in OPS over the first thirty games of a season in 1928, 1957, and 1927, respectively.

• Babe Ruth: 1.352 (1928)
• Ted Williams 1.283 (1957)
• Lou Gehrig 1.383 (1927)

Cody Bellinger’s OPS over the first thirty games in 2019 was 1.413, which outperforms three of the greatest hitters of all time. In each of those legend’s first (or only) MVP-winning seasons, 2019 Cody Bellinger has a higher batting average in the first thirty games of the seasons in question.

Bellinger also leads the pack on the leader-boards of countable stats before May 1st. Here are some notable historical figures that Bellinger has posted:

• Bellinger’s 47 hits before May 1st is the most by any player in the history of the game. He passed Alfonso Soriano, who collected 46 hits before May in 2003.
• Bellinger swatted 14 home runs before May this season, which creates a four-way tie for the most all-time.
• Bellinger’s 37 runs batted in broke a record set by the great Mark McGwire in 1998 for most RBIs before May 1st.
• Bellinger crossed the plate 32 times in the thirty-one games he played before May, which ties the all-time record for runs scored before May 1st, set by Bryce Harper in 2017.
• Bellinger finished the combined month-worth of baseball in March and April with 97 total bases, shattering an all-time record set at 85 total bases by Chase Utley in 2008.

What’s to Come?

Bellinger winning MLB’s Player of the Month award in the National League is almost inevitable after just how dominant he has been over March/April. What remains the question on Bellinger is if he can sustain a level of play even close to what he’s been doing this past month.

It’s impossible to tell for sure, but with the adjustments Bellinger has deployed into his 2019 at-bats that were missing from years before, it is not terribly unlikely that Bellinger could walk away with the National League’s Most Valuable Player award in 2019.

Arrick Joel has covered the Dodgers since 2017. Follow @ArrickJoel on Twitter, and follow @DodgersLowDown for more.