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Rookies Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are leading MLB in homers
Tuesday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at a whole lot of rookie power, LSU’s good then bad Monday, and who knows how to find shortstops.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
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Everyone is talking about Aaron Judge, as he’s baseball’s large adult son who also happens to be leading the majors in homers. What has he done for us lately, though? He hasn’t hit a dinger in days! No, now we love the even newer thing: Cody Bellinger.
The Dodgers’ rookie hit a pair of homers on Monday, giving him the NL lead with 21 ... despite the fact Bellinger has only played in 51 games since he began the year in Triple-A. That last bit makes him the fastest ever to reach 21 big-league homers.
OK, fine. We don’t need to pick between the two: We have enough appreciation for both. Judge is 25 and debuted in 2016, but he didn’t play enough to lose his rookie status. Bellinger is only 21 and wasn’t even supposed to be here right now, but Dodgers injuries forced an early call-up and further injuries kept him here. Now, it’s hard to imagine the Dodgers without Bellinger, given he’s slugging .658. And even with him around, Los Angeles remains a half game out of first in the NL West.
Judge has done his part for the Yankees in the same regard, as his on-base and slugging percentages both lead the AL, and New York finds itself a half game up on the Red Sox. Judge might even be having the top season in the AL, given Mike Trout’s inherent head start on everyone else in the game has been interrupted by his extended stint on the disabled list.
It would be fascinating and worthy of our attention if these two were on the dirt worst teams in MLB and putting up these kinds of numbers. But having them on teams that look like they should be competitive throughout the year, on classic franchises that seem to just be adding to their history of successful, homegrown stars? That adds another few layers, even if fans of Yankees and Dodgers rivals aren’t necessarily going to appreciate them the same way.
- Grant Brisbee continues his look at which teams are succeeding and which teams are failing at filling positions, this time with shortstop. The Yankees, as you might have guessed, have done pretty well with this the past couple of decades.
- Normally play of the day is something fun and exciting to be praised or enjoyed. But today it’s Anthony Rizzo deviating from his path to home plate to crash into Padres’ catcher Austin Hedges, who had left a wide-open hole on Rizzo’s right for him to approach the plate. Watch the video and Joe Maddon defending the move the Padres are saying was a cheap shot.
- Oh, that collision also injured Hedges, who won’t be playing for the Padres on Tuesday.
- We have two College World Series games on Monday, and boy did LSU’s day take a turn.
- LSU’s baseball team played a football game before its baseball game, which maybe explains how the Tigers then looked like they had forgotten how to play baseball.
- You need to read this ESPN feature on ballpark culture, which features quotes from a number of MLB’s Latinos.
- The Indians have placed Michael Brantley on the DL, but don’t worry, it’s an ankle sprain, not a return to last year’s never-ending issues.
- The Royals are getting into contention, and here’s what they need to stay there.
- Tyler Flowers and Brandon Phillips are both hitting better than they did a year ago, which could matter for the Braves at the trade deadline.
- Jhonny Peralta had a poor season with the Cardinals that got him released, but the Red Sox are trying to avoid as much Pablo Sandoval as they can. Is there a fit?
- Homers are a necessity for the Judge- and Bellinger-powered Yankees and Dodgers, but are they a necessity league-wide?
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