Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: ESPN Calls Cody Bellinger Must-See Talent in Playoffs

Obviously, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ second-season begins on Thursday night. In preparation of this, ESPN has a really solid piece up on Tuesday about the premiere young talents in this tournament. The Worldwide Leader packages the article as ‘Five Young Stars Ready To Take October by Storm’.

Of course, headlining this list of five is your own Cody Bellinger. Additionally, they handed the task of describing Bellinger to the world (remember, baseball can be a regional sport) to Alden Gonzalez. Remember, Gonzalez covers the Dodgers regularly for ESPN and is lucky enough to watch Bellinger on a regular basis.



Now, I thought this part written by Gonzalez was really neat. First and foremost, Darryl Strawberry was my favorite player as a kid. By the same token, Cody Bellinger is my favorite player as an adult. Check out the comparison made by Gonzalez here.

A tall, lanky left-handed hitter with a lofty swing, surprising speed and a strong throwing arm — yeah, sounds about right. Strawberry didn’t do all that much during the 1986 postseason, batting .217/.315/.457. But he hit a towering home run to lead off the eighth inning in Game 7 of the World Series, giving the New York Mets a critical insurance run when it seemed as if the Boston Red Sox were finally starting to regain some momentum. It propelled the Mets to a championship. The Dodgers hope for similar October magic out of Bellinger.

Without a doubt, there are some neat parallels in play here. First off, aside from Ken Griffey Jr.; these are two of the most beautiful left-handed swings I’ve visually seen in 30-plus years watching baseball. Furthermore, I could see Bellinger having a postseason similar to what Gonzalez describes above.

Indeed, hits and runs seem to come at a premium during October. The pitching is more elite – but Bellinger’s tools like his speed, defense, and power – should be able to leave their mark like Strawberry’s did when the 1986 Mets won it all.

Finally, out of the five young stars listed; maybe Cody Bellinger is the last one left standing when the dust settles.

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

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