The Dodgers will promote top prospect Cody Bellinger, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick (via Twitter). The 21-year-old will provide a left-handed-hitting option at first base and the corner outfield, though it’s unknown how long he’ll remain in the majors.
Bellinger flew up top prospect charts with a strong 2016 season, in which he slashed .271/.365/.507 over 477 plate appearances, the vast bulk of them coming at Double-A. After an excellent stint in the Arizona Fall League, Bellinger sat at seventh among all prospects leaguewide in the ranking of Baseball America.
Since that time, Bellinger has taken Triple-A by storm. Through 77 trips to the plate, he owns a .343/.429/.627 batting line with five home runs and seven steals. Adding him to the active MLB roster, though, will require the creation of a 40-man space.
The Dodgers fielded trade inquiries on the blue-chip prospect over the winter, as they have recently for other hyped youngsters such as Corey Seager, Julio Urias, and Joc Pederson. But Los Angeles has held firm on those players, all of whom will now have reached the majors. With Pederson on the DL, a need arose for another outfield bat, and it’ll be Bellinger who gets the call — at least temporarily. As Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets, Bellinger is expected to see time in left and center.
Looking longer term, Bellinger’s promotion comes late enough into the season that his path to free agency would be delayed by one year, but not so late that he’d avoid Super Two status. If Bellinger remains in the Majors to stay, he’d accrue 159 days of Major League service time, putting on track to reach arbitration after the 2019 season and free agency upon completion of the 2023 campaign.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Exciting times. Would he play mostly OF? Maybe some CF with Pederson on the shelf?
He’s left-handed.
What, a lefty dodger?
He will not be providing a right handed option at any point. Excited to see him so soon tho!
Bellinger is not right handed.
Nailed it on the callup, I’ll admit to being surprised for sure. Fingers crossed!
Interesting move. With Pederson out, I don’t see Bellinger playing CF (or a corner OF spot). Bellinger is a legitimate 1B prospect. As AGon continues to struggle, this may be transition time in Los Angeles for another young bat.
Bellinger is athletic enough to play the outfield. Just sticking him at 1B when there’s not a real need yet would be silly. He’ll see time in the outfield.
He’s capable of playing CF and LF. With Pederson on the DL and Toles going through a bit of a sophomore slump, he’ll be plugged into either spot. Dodgers need something to wake up those bats, we’ll see if this is it.
Urias
Urias n Bellinger, the future is now! Go Dodgers!
He’s puigs replacement.
No he’s not. He’s the replacement for a horribly underperforming left field platoon and an injury replacement for Joc. Get your dumb hate out of here.
I think the FO realized to start putting the best product on the field. Taylor , bellinger and urias all need to be on the team.
Dodgers seem desperate
More than the Giants?
Padres fans here are more arrogant then giant fans and idk how thats possible. Bellinger was supposed to be ready in 2017 so how is calling someone up who is ready and tearing it up at AAA desperate?
Dodgers are making adjustments, every team makes them trying to catch lightning in a bottle. It’s one of the things that makes baseball great. We’ll be desperate if we still have a losing record come all star break.
Desperate isn’t the right word, but we gotta admit, nothing else is working this year and this team needs a serious kick in the slats.
Greg Jeffries.
And I suppose they were desperate with Seager! Grab some sun!
Promoting a prospect is desperate? Cool story bro.
Enjoy your 105 loses this year.
a rock can out pitch the padres, the padres would win more games if the team didn’t even show up
I’m guessing Kazmir to the 60-day DL to open 40 man spot and maybe Fields sent down for active roster
No it’ll probably be Ethier and an OF sent down, most likely Toles or Eibner.
Eibner, because Toles has already proven himself
But Kaz and Stewart will be options for who knows who else. I’m guessing Kaz heads way for Oaks if Oaks is needed.
Here’s hoping Bellinger does well and replaces Pederson in the OF. So tired of Pederson’s all-or-nothing approach at the plate.
No Pederson is their CF. it’s probably not a good time to point out that Bellinger has Kd at a 28% clip just as Pederson has.
Looks like Andrew toles won’t be around too much longer
What a shocker :p
They didn’t necessarily hold firm on all that hit the majors
They traded one to Tampa
they did but he’s not the same kind of prospect as seager urias Bellinger
Good for Cody. I’ve been excited to see him for awhile now.
Great news. Will be expecting him to play OF primarily to patch up the holes there…but if he hits, I have zero doubt he’s going to eat into A-Gon’s playing time – and fair enough too, A-Gon is slowly but surely overcooked.
Who was removed from the 40 man? Did someone get moved to the 60-day DL or was someone DFAd?
SCREW A-GON DODGER FANS, WE GOT SOMETHING WAY BETTER!
Good to see Bellinger get the call, looking forward to watching him play.
Just when we thought the dodgers couldn’t get any worse against left handed pitching…
Van Slyke is good as gone now
Not for as long as Pederson remains on the DL. Ethier’s ETA is also unknown. When one or both of them are available the traffic jam will have to be resolved.