Cody Bellinger Bombs: Chronicling Dodgers Home Run 72
Dodgers Nation will be writing about ‘Bellinger Bombs’. The Dodgers have one of the best young power hitters in the game under contract for the foreseeable future. Writers like Sam Miller have asked the question ‘What if Cody Bellinger is going to break the all-time home run record’. As the career home runs continue to pile up, we will examine each one in greater detail. We will allow you; the fan, to savor each one as they should be. Because what’s more fun than a home run? (You can look back at the collection here).
It had seemed like a while since Cody Bellinger had homered. However, in reality it was just four games in St. Louis that he failed to leave the yard.
Nevertheless, when Cody hits one; we write this post. Furthermore, it’s beginning to get interesting. With 8 homers to his tally before mid-April, Bellinger has a chance at a historic power season due to his hot start. Let’s examine the latest Bellinger Bomb, shall we?
The Home Run
Cody Bellinger goes into the right field seats.
— Sporting News MLB (@sn_mlb) April 13, 2019
Bellinger likes to keep things equal. This was his 36th career home run at Dodger Stadium, to go along with an equal total on the road. His third career home run against the Milwaukee Brewers was his 34th to right field. This was the 52nd off right-handed pitching, and 40th as a clean up hitter. Now, Bellinger has 48 as a first baseman.
With 72 career home runs, Bellinger is just one away from tying Rick Monday for 43rd place on the Dodgers all-time franchise list.
How Bellinger’s Home Run Impacted the Game
This was a back and forth contest between the NL’s two participants in last year’s NLCS. At the time of the home run, Bellinger and the Dodgers trailed the Brewers 2-1. Los Angeles was a 49 percent win expectancy. Afterwards, Bellinger put the Dodgers up 3-2 momentarily and improved their chances to 65 percent. With a delta of 17 percent, this was a high-leverage home run; but it didn’t come late enough in the action.
However, the Dodgers would lose this game 8-5 in the end to open the series.
The Victim
Dodgers Nation would like to welcome 24-year old right-hander Corbin Burnes to the exclusive club. Corbin, you are the latest to surrender a home run to Cody Bellinger. Burnes is a 4th round pick out of the 2016 draft, and has a nice future in the game. However, he’s now allowed nine home runs thus far in 2019 in 14.1 innings pitched.
For his career, Burnes is 7-1 with a 4.64 ERA in 52.1 innings pitched. He’s been converted to a starting role with Milwaukee after flashing a brilliant 2018 season out of the bullpen.
Exit Velocity, Distance, Pitch Data, and Angle
#Brewers 2 @ #Dodgers 3 [B3-1o]?Cody Bellinger homers (8): fly ball to RF (2-run)
[ 110mph? • 412ft • 25°? ]Viz: pic.twitter.com/MnflRqB9pz— Home Run Tracker (@DingerTracker) April 13, 2019
Bellinger caught a 95 mile per hour heater off Burnes and hit it a long ways. The tale of the tape says it all: 412 feet, 110 off the bat, and it had an angle of 25 degrees.
This was just another Bellinger no-doubter that fans at the park knew was gone the minute it connected with the bat. When you watch Cody’s follow through of the ball, he didn’t feel a thing. He knew that he got all of it.
Overall Bellinger-Bomb Prominence Score
It’s awesome that Bellinger continues to tally home runs up at around a 90-homer pace in the early going. Equally important, he’s been generous with giving souvenirs to his home fan base. However, this one didn’t come in a win; and the Brewers answered back plenty of times off Julio Urias. This will not be one we remember or talk about forever.
Dodgers Nation Overall Prominence Score: 7.0
Surviving as a Dodgers Fan Outside SoCal: Clint
