It’s no secret that Cody Bellinger has struggled for the vast majority of 2021, but so far in the Post Season he is hitting .308 in his 13 playoff at bats so things appear to be headed in the right direction.
Another not so secret part of 2021 is that he has made some adjustments at the plate to become more consistent. In this feature I am going to attempt to break down those adjustments and explain how they have been effective.
Swing Adjustments
The first and easiest adjustment Bellinger has made has been in his stance.
In this picture, the top left is of Bellinger in 2019, the top right is Spring Training of this year and the bottom is Bellinger now. As you can see, he has closed his stance back to how it was in 2019. Another thing you can see in this picture is his bat angle. Bellinger is now trying to hold his bat more upright like he did in 2019 instead of wrapping it around his head like he was doing for most of this year. This adjustment should give him a more direct path to the ball, a quicker swing and more consistency.
Bellinger at Load
This next picture is Bellinger at load.
The Picture on the left is from his double the other night and the picture on the right is from earlier this year when he was struggling. First and foremost, Bellinger has choked up and widened his stance as if he’s approaching every pitch like he has 2 strikes on him. Credit Tommy Naccarato for spotting those changes and bringing them to my attention.
The wider stance has allowed him to keep his head centered in the middle of his body instead of leaning back behind it. On the left you also notice that his bat angle is more upright and that he has lowered his hands at load. On the picture on the right, the knob is pointed at the catcher whereas on the left it is pointed to the ground in front of the catcher. These adjustments, more upright bat angle and lower hands, should allow Bellinger to have a more direct path to the ball and more bat control.
Bellinger at Slot
In this next picture you will see Bellinger at what I call “slot”, simply meaning when the barrel flattens or levels. On the left side of the picture I have circled the ball with a black circle so you can see where the ball is. Bellinger’s knob of the bat is still pointed towards 3rd base instead of directly at the ball when he reaches slot, so, that means that he is still a touch late. But, that is a by product of the fact that he is trying to let the ball get deeper in an attempt to not pull off the ball.
Bellinger at Contact
That ties in directly to the next adjustment Bellinger has made which is, quite possibly, the most important of all and that is that he is letting the ball get deeper,
Letting the ball get “deep” has really helped Bellinger because he is less likely to pull off the ball. Also, look how “flat” his barrel is. Bellinger has a “flat” bat angle now because he is driving his through the ball instead of leaning back and trying to stay behind it like he was earlier this year. I have drawn a triangle to show how his head has stayed centered in between his 2 feet. The vertical line shows that, because he is centered, his head, back shoulder, back hip, and back knee are almost perfectly slotted together. That means that his swing is more connected which means the different parts of his body are working together.
Conclusion
Sometimes it takes failure to force adjustments that promote long term consistency. This, in my opinion, is what has happened to Cody Bellinger as he changed his swing to create more power, but didn’t anticipate having negative consequences. He thought he would be able to add power without also having to subtract consistency and it just didn’t happen.
He has just recently put the adjustments in place to return to his 2019 form and, as these pictures show, he is getting closer. He’s still off a little here and a little there, but that can be said for every hitter on just about every swing no matter how well they are hitting the ball. I do think that he will float back and forth between these adjustments and his old/bad habits, so it is a process, but, it is headed in the right direction.
