Judge not the only former MVP powering Yankees

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In the last 20 years, there have only been two players who batted .375 or better with 18 or more home runs through their first 55 games in a season.

Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is one of them, having accomplished that through his first 55 games this year. He’s batting .391 with 18 homers as he leads the Yankees into a World Series rematch against the Dodgers this weekend in Los Angeles.

The other? He's right next door.

“For me, I got off to a really, really hot start in April,” said Cody Bellinger, who was batting .377 with 20 homers through the first 55 games of what would become an MVP season in 2019. “It was funny, though -- even though I had these crazy numbers, I’d just show up to the field and be like, ‘OK, this is what I’m gonna do today.’

“It’s the cat-and-mouse game. No different than any other time.”

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If Cody was the cat, the mice stood no chance in 2019. Much like what is happening six years later with the man whose locker stood next to Bellinger's as he spoke those words.

Home runs are to be expected from Judge, a player whose larger-than-life presence dwarfs even some of the most physically imposing stars in the game. But flirting with .400 this late into the season? Not so much.

If he ever needs any advice, though, he knows he doesn't have to go far.

When told of the fact that the man hitting behind him in the lineup is the only other player in the past two decades to do what Judge is doing now, he looked down and shook his head, marveling.

“We’re lucky to have him,” Judge said.

That’s especially true considering that Bellinger, who delivered his share of heroics in the postseason for the Dodgers, will face his old club at a time when he seems to be regaining his power.

During the 2020 World Series while he was with the Dodgers, Bellinger dislocated his right shoulder, an injury that seemingly sapped him of much of his power in the years after.

From 2021-22, Bellinger’s offensive production declined so precipitously that there was some doubt as to whether he would ever approach his 2019 peak again. Over that two-year span, he hit just .193/.256/.355 with 29 homers in 239 games.

Bellinger signed a one-year deal with the Cubs and had a bounce-back season in 2023, hitting 26 home runs with an .881 OPS for Chicago. While the numbers were certainly good, the underlying quality of contact metrics suggested that those types of results might not be sustainable.

Bellinger’s 31.4% hard-hit rate in 2023, according to Statcast, ranked in the bottom 10% among qualified hitters. His 6.1% barrel rate was the lowest of his career to that point, even counting his 2021-22 nadir. His barrel rate didn’t fare much better the next year, when it was 6.3%.

“It wasn’t necessarily that I was being more contact-oriented,” Bellinger said of his power outage from 2021 through ’22, and his relatively soft contact in 2023 and ’24. “Obviously, I was going through some rough stretches there. I didn’t really know what my body was doing or where my barrel was.”

Bellinger said that he felt “out of control” in the batter’s box during that time. He added that he has a few “key pointers” that he needs to get right mechanically in order to be in control, and that in the aftermath of the 2020 shoulder injury, his swing changed.

“All the cues I had for getting my swing off," he said, "I would use all those cues and it would result in a completely different swing."

Then came this past offseason, when the Yankees acquired Bellinger in a trade with the Cubs. And while he is by no means the 2019 version, something is qualitatively different about him this year -- his 10.5% barrel rate and 40.5% hard-hit rate are each his highest since 2019 and ’20, respectively.

Bellinger’s .459 expected slugging percentage is also his highest since 2020. Is the power returning?

If so, what changed?

“It’s very simple things, honestly," Bellinger said. "Earlier this year, I talked to the hitting coaches and we were just grinding it out, and now I’m in a pretty good spot.”

And the shoulder?

“The shoulder feels good,” he said. “I do a lot of work with it. Obviously, I still had surgery on it, but ultimately, it feels pretty good. It’s more about flexibility for me -- if I can keep my flexibility in my shoulder. Obviously strength is important, but flexibility is also really important.”

Flexibility is important, and Bellinger’s flexibility in the field is one of his most attractive attributes. He can play in the outfield or at first base. With fellow Bronx newcomer Paul Goldschmidt at first -- and hitting well himself following a couple of down years -- Bellinger is in center, where his defense continues to shine.

But if the “Belli-bombs” start proliferating? Behind Judge? Watch out.

Back in 2019, when Bellinger was red-hot through the first two months of the season, he never forgot how difficult the game is. But the challenge of hitting in the Major Leagues just underscores how remarkable it was with him then -- and with Judge now.

Yes, 2019 was a long time ago. But Bellinger is showing he still has some pop in that bat.

“I wake up every day to be the best version of myself,” Bellinger said. “And when I put my head on the pillow at night, I want to be able to say I did everything I could. That’s all you can ask for.”