Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger has been unanimously voted National League Rookie of the Month for the second consecutive month. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Bellinger, who was named an All-Star on Sunday, posted a slash line of .286/.361/.743 with 22 runs scored, nine doubles, 13 home runs, 27 RBI, 13 walks and four stolen bases to earn his second consecutive monthly award. Cody is the first NL rookie to garner consecutive monthly awards since Trea Turner of the Washington Nationals was voted NL Rookie of the Month in both August and September of last season. This is the first time in Dodgers franchise history that a freshman player has been named Rookie of the Month twice in the same season dating back to the award's inception in 2001. Among qualified NL rookie sluggers with at least 20 at-bats, Bellinger finished the month first in runs scored, hits (30), doubles, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and slugging percentage. In addition, his 13 home runs matched Jimmie Hall (August 1963) for the third-most homers by a rookie in a single month in MLB history.
On June 19th against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium, Bellinger went 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and four RBI. The multihomer effort was his fifth of the 2017 season and propelled him to becoming the fastest player in MLB history to reach 21 round-trippers (51 career games). Additionally, the Scottsdale, Arizona native surpassed Adrian Beltre (20 HR, 2000) to log the most home runs as a Dodger in a season at age 21-or-younger. The following night, the dynamic slugger connected for his 22nd home run of the season in a game that saw Los Angeles record a season-high-tying five homers. With the prolific output, the Dodgers had blasted 27 home runs in its previous 10 games, establishing a new franchise record for homers over any 10-game span. For Bellinger, it was his 10th home run over his last 10 games (June 10th-20th), and he became just the second player in team history to log 10 homers in 10 contests, joining Shawn Green (May 2002). In addition, Cody became the first rookie in Major League history to accomplish the feat, and was the first big league player to do so since Troy Tulowitzki (September 8-18, 2010). Cody finished his historic month with a final multi-homer game on June 25th against the Colorado Rockies, establishing a club record for the most multi-home run games (6) in a rookie season. Not even halfway through the season, Bellinger trails only Mark McGwire (7) for the most multi-homer games as a rookie in MLB history. The overall single-season mark of 11 multi-homer games is held by Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa (1998).
For the third consecutive season, the Dodgers have a rookie named to the NL All-Star team as Bellinger joins Bill Grabarkewitz (1970), Steve Sax (1982), Hall of Famer Mike Piazza (1993), and his teammates Joc Pederson (2015) and Corey Seager (2016) as Dodgers rookie position players to be selected an All-Star.
In recognition of their Rookie of the Month Awards, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge, who was also voted AL Player of the Month, will each receive a specially designed trophy, suitably engraved, for their accomplishments.