When agent Scott Boras stood atop a makeshift dais at the MLB general manager meetings in Las Vegas last November and told reporters that Cody Bellinger just needed to restore strength in his surgically repaired right shoulder to regain his 2019 National League MVP form, it read as a sales pitch.
As Bellinger stroked two opposite-field home runs in Saturday’s 6-4 Cubs win over the Royals, a pair of rockets soaring to join up with the periodic buzzing of Wrigley Field from the Air & Water Show, it reminded that it’s enticing to dream about player ceilings because sometimes they’re realized.
“I hate to repeat myself,” Justin Steele said before repeating a line he used last month. “He’s just must-watch television at this point.”
In the case of Bellinger’s four-RBI outburst backing up Steele’s 16th quality start of the year, as the 28-year-old left-hander continues a season that will garner Cy Young votes at the end of next month, it reminds that sometimes ceilings are realized at the same time. When they are, it can result in the Cubs (63-59) playing meaningful late-August baseball a year earlier than anticipated.
“I probably — looking back — would have taken a little more time,” Bellinger said, reflecting on his efforts to return quickly from his 2020 shoulder injury that led to two seasons of struggle. “I obviously took weightlifting pretty serious this offseason. I did more workouts that benefitted my body through what I was dealing with. Once I picked up a bat, I could tell the difference.”
Despite missing a month with a knee injury, Bellinger is now tied for the Cubs (63-59) team lead with 20 home runs and paces the club with 63 RBI. Even if actual consideration for the award will be a stretch, Bellinger’s .326/.375/.564 batting line looks MVP-caliber, especially when paired with strong defense at center field and first base.
“Putting the lineup on his back is what he does,” said manager David Ross.
Bellinger’s wiry lefty frame pushing two deep fly balls into the left field bleachers is representative of the elite power the 28-year-old has restored to his swing, conjuring memories of the 111 home runs he hit over the first three season of his career. It also reflects how much fun it can be to hit for power in Wrigley Field in August.
But for Ross those blasts — and maybe even more so Bellinger fighting off an 0-2 pitch for a sacrifice fly to left in the fourth — reminded him of early work. In the middle of a dominant two-month stretch in a tremendous rebound season, Bellinger was taking optional batting practice Saturday morning, trying to drive the ball to left-center and restore a direction he felt was ebbing away from his approach.
“I just didn’t like how I felt yesterday, and just wanted to come early and get some extra reps and feel what I wanted to feel,” Bellinger said. “It’s just understanding myself and being able to control my moves and what I want to do in the box. It’s all kind of correlated. When I feel off, trying to get right back on track.”
As simple as Bellinger can make the game look, the explanation for the Cubs happening upon a dominant force in the middle of a lineup that once lacked it, is simpler still. A great player got hurt and became devalued, and now healthy, is great once more.
Even as the North Side reaps the reward in a season that looked poised for a deadline sell-off and gloomy finish barely over a month ago, the simple desire to keep Bellinger in place beyond this season nudges into the frame.
“It really is great here,” Bellinger said, before batting aside any further talk of his pending free agency. “We have 47 games left and we’re in a playoff race. That’s really the only thing I’m focusing on: trying to go out every day and help this team win.”