Dodgers: Keith Law Believes Cody Bellinger Must Make An Adjustment

With our player projections coming out soon, many are wondering how certain Dodgers will fare in 2019. Moreover, few players come with more anticipation than one Cody Bellinger.

MLB Network ranked him favorably as one of the top centerfielders in baseball. Hitting strategist Brant Brown told FRG and I that ‘rookie year Bellinger’ would make an appearance in the coming year.

Now, the respected opinion of Keith Law is in circulation. Law and Kiley McDaniel held a Dodgers-focused chat, and a question on Bellinger was risen. That question came in from user ‘Nook’. Nook asks Is Bellinger still young enough to make significant strides offensively, or do you think 2018 is a realistic showing of who he is?

And lastly, more notes from Keith Law from last week pic.twitter.com/kkwzUzEpz4

— Future Dodgers (@FutureDodgers) January 31, 2019

Law’s response is below:

He’s still 23 so age isn’t a concern, but the way he swings leaves him vulnerable to a couple of pitching plans and he has to show he can shorten up and adjust if he wants to be more than he’s already been.

Now, ‘more than he’s already been’ is a little subjective when you look at Bellinger’s body of work. However, if he takes that leap that Law speaks toward, you’re talking about a full-fledged mainstream superstar player. Equally important – Bellinger has posted consecutive 4.2 bWAR seasons to begin his career.

Notably, look at Bellinger’s rookie season. If he can have a year that trumps that one statistically – the Dodgers could have an MVP candidate on their hands.

Anyone who follows the Dodgers on a daily basis realizes that if Bellinger can tweak his approach and become more consistent, great results will follow. The same could be said about any player. However, when you combine consistency with the ceiling that Bellinger has; therein lies the excitement of watching him mature as a young player.

We don’t know exactly who Bellinger is yet – and that makes the anticipation of 2019 grow. Law’s opinion should come as a respected one, so file this away for what we need to see from Cody Bellinger when the regular season begins.