Cody Bellinger

[Edwards Kings]

So we all know and have made fun (ad nauseam) of Spring Training "noise"...

"In the best shape of his life...."

"Focus on stealing more bases..."

"New off-season regimen..."

"Back to old off-season regimen..."

"fully recovered from last years injury/injuries/strained lat/strained oblique/hamstring/Achilles tendon/amputation...."

"New pitch.."

"Old pitch..."

Whatever...I try to barely register those now because they are irritating born only out of nothing else to report.



BUT...a few do make me sit up. This one...

"Cody Bellinger told MLB.com's Ken Gurnick on Thursday that he has gained 15 pounds of muscle since the end of the World Series.

Bellinger credited it to a stepped-up conditioning and nutrition program. The 22-year-old first baseman earned National League Rookie of the Year honors in 2017 after batting .267/.352/.581 with 39 home runs, 97 RBI, 10 stolen bases, and 87 runs scored in 132 games. He carries monstrous fantasy upside into 2018."

It is the "stepped-up conditioning" that makes me take notice. I read that, perhaps judgmentally, as bulking up.

In the early ADP's, Bellinger, after his first year in the majors, is the fifth 1st baseman (or eighth OFer) taken and is late second round/early third round pick. I get it. He was incredible last year. Made the Dodgers say "Adrian who?" and basically eat his 2018 contract (ok...they got Kemp). Flyball swing. Will take a walk ("good eye"). Speed at a speed-lite position. Will turn 23 during the season and has the upside to hit (insert insane and inane prediction here). We all wished we had drafted him last year (so obvious now) and look at wonder and awe at those oracles who did (oracles now...orifices last year when we were probably chasing those guys in the power categories).

But now, is he still the lean, flexible young player? Or has he gone overboard to look like his autographed MtM poster?



Makes me put a question mark around Bellinger. Probably reading too much into it, but this is one "noise" comment I want to remember. If Bellinger deals with significant injury time due to some muscle strain or his contact rate takes I dive, I will remember this.

Then next year, he can report he has gone back to his old off-season workout.

[DOUGHBOYS]

You forgot the words "Hope" or Hoping to" in the beginning of your post, Wayne.

'The Orioles hope that Zack Britton will only miss half the season'

'Dustin Pedroia is hoping to be ready for Opening Day'.

Both are as meaningless as 'Wayne Edwards hopes to win the Georgia Lottery'.

Two trains of thought went through my mind when I saw the Bellinger blurb.
One positive, one negative.

The positive was that I remember the same blurb about Mike Trout a few years ago.
And indeed, Trout looked a lot more muscular and it didn't seem to effect his speed and he wasn't so muscled up that he did not require DL stints for Cespedes-like muscle pulls.
Hopefully, Bellinger is like Mike in this regard.

The negative was that the Dodgers, as a team, played till the last possible day of the playoffs and World Series.
This means that any Astros and Dodgers had less time to workout and prepare for the off season. Especially after a grueling schedule.
Yet, here is Cody Bellinger in early January telling us that a workout and diet routine has suddenly bulked him up by 15 pounds.
Hmmm.
50 day suspension, anybody?

[Edwards Kings]

You forgot the words "Hope" or Hoping to" in the beginning of your post, Wayne.

Both are as meaningless as 'Wayne Edwards hopes to win the Georgia Lottery'.

Why...yes...yes I do!

[Edwards Kings]

The negative was that the Dodgers, as a team, played till the last possible day of the playoffs and World Series.
This means that any Astros and Dodgers had less time to workout and prepare for the off season. Especially after a grueling schedule.
Yet, here is Cody Bellinger in early January telling us that a workout and diet routine has suddenly bulked him up by 15 pounds.
Hmmm.
50 day suspension, anybody?

The 15 pounds on a 22 year old does not necessarily freak me out or make me concerned with pharma-help. The first time I saw Freddie Freeman in AAA you could tell he had the frame to put on weight as he matured (i.e. broad shoulders, but not yet much depth in the chest area). I myself put on 30 between 22 and 25 (that fried chicken, pizza, beer diet to be sure and my only exercise was chasing college fresh-females around whatever Athens bars I was still allowed in).

It is the muscle emphasis that gives me pause. Sure, you do not want to add weight like I did (I always say it is a poor farmer that doesn't build a shed over his best tool), but for an athlete, bulk seems to add to rigidity, especially if done too fast. Can't wait to see him in spring training games to put a visual on what is probably no more than a casual comment.

[MadCow Sez]

The negative was that the Dodgers, as a team, played till the last possible day of the playoffs and World Series.
This means that any Astros and Dodgers had less time to workout and prepare for the off season. Especially after a grueling schedule.
Yet, here is Cody Bellinger in early January telling us that a workout and diet routine has suddenly bulked him up by 15 pounds.
Hmmm.
50 day suspension, anybody?

The 15 pounds on a 22 year old does not necessarily freak me out or make me concerned with pharma-help. The first time I saw Freddie Freeman in AAA you could tell he had the frame to put on weight as he matured (i.e. broad shoulders, but not yet much depth in the chest area). I myself put on 30 between 22 and 25 (that fried chicken, pizza, beer diet to be sure and my only exercise was chasing college fresh-females around whatever Athens bars I was still allowed in).

It is the muscle emphasis that gives me pause. Sure, you do not want to add weight like I did (I always say it is a poor farmer that doesn't build a shed over his best tool), but for an athlete, bulk seems to add to rigidity, especially if done too fast. Can't wait to see him in spring training games to put a visual on what is probably no more than a casual comment.

15 pounds on Bellinger at 6'4"/215 lbs is less than a 7% gain. He's not a big fella and 15 more pounds may not show much. Let the physique in ST be the gauge. He's had 3 months and one of the most advanced conditioning/training capabilities to do it with. I would be concerned if he comes in at much more than 230 lbs, but if you look at NFL players a comparison, 6'4" 250 makes you a linebacker, probably on the smallish side.

[Baseball Furies]

Why is it on every one of these threads about guys gaining "X" number of pounds of muscle overnight and performance enhancing drugs, that I'm referenced in the conversation these days? Truthfully, with my physique and genetic make-up, if I was on the sauce as we say in the gym game, I'd be pushing Ferrigno-like proportions even at my age. So let's all just pipe down and keep things in proper perspective, shall we?

https://youtu.be/o0EgVQLANZQ

Now this is what you call "performance enhancing drugs".

[Yah Mule]

“I’m excited to take a month off, that’s something I’m excited for, let the body rest. Let the body heal a little bit and get as big as a house…. That’s the biggest thing I try to do. I want to go into spring training about 240, 245.”

~Bryce Harper in January of 2014.

Misses 62 games, posts worst OPS of career.

[Baseball Furies]

“I’m excited to take a month off, that’s something I’m excited for, let the body rest. Let the body heal a little bit and get as big as a house…. That’s the biggest thing I try to do. I want to go into spring training about 240, 245.”

~Bryce Harper in January of 2014.

Misses 62 games, posts worst OPS of career.

More proof that all the training in the world doesn't fix being a dick. Wait...maybe I should retract that.