Cody Bellinger makes my jaw drop on a daily basis, and I'm not even talking about all the home runs

By Adrian Garro @adriangarro

May 28, 2019

Living on the West Coast, I'm afforded a great gift, one I wish all baseball fans had: The ability to watch Cody Bellinger play baseball on a daily basis. Sure, the rest of you in other locales could, but time zones turn my 7 o'clock start time to a much later and inconvenient 10 o'clock first pitch, and I understand.

And that's a shame -- because the things Bellinger is doing on a daily basis for the Dodgers this season are just ridiculous, and he's putting himself in some serious MVP conversations.

This is pretty much a nightly occurrence:

WOW.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 28, 2019

Bellinger's antics in the Dodgers' 9-5 win over the Mets on Monday night put this on full display. First, he nabbed Michael Conforto at the plate with an absolute laser from right field:

The second play -- and Bellinger's second outfield assist of the evening -- came in the eighth inning in a huge spot for the Dodgers. With the bases loaded and one out, Los Angeles up 8-5, Bellinger caught a fly ball in right field. I literally shouted at my television set, "throw to second," expecting Bellinger to try to nail the runner heading to second from first base.

But Bellinger didn't throw to second. Instead, he uncorked a throw to third that I'm still completely flabbergasted by, hours later. Justin Turner caught it on the fly and tagged a probably shocked Carlos Gómez for the third out of the inning as he attempted to slide into third.

Here it is. Bask in it.

CODY JAMES BELLINGER, YOU ARE RIDICULOUS. pic.twitter.com/OD7zfOAgzH

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 28, 2019

That's two outfield assists for Bellinger in the game.

Heading into Monday, Bellinger had only played 55 games in right field. The position was opened up when the Dodgers traded Yasiel Puig in the winter, after all. After picking up two assists on Monday night, he now has 7 as a right fielder in his career, out of 67 total assists spread across the field.

That's some next-level versatility, and demonstrates how dangerous Bellinger has been as he comes into his own in the Majors.

Oh, and he's still only 23 years old. He also brought a .386 batting average into Monday's game, and is currently leading the NL in average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+, total bases, hits and RBIs.

Notice that I haven't even mentioned any of Bellinger's home runs or general hitting prowess so far in this article. He hit a booming homer in Monday's game off Jacob deGrom for good measure.

But I mean, just ... wow.

Watching this man play baseball day after day is an absolute treat. I feel a bit spoiled, honestly, watching Bellinger and Mike Trout make the game look incredibly easy so frequently.

So yeah, try to watch Bellinger (and Trout) if you can, time zone issues notwithstanding.

You'll be glad you did.