When Cody Bellinger was piling up the hits across the Grapefruit League this spring, Aaron Boone joked that he should pace himself for the regular season.
Of course, it is not that simple, but almost a month into the season, Bellinger is still trying to settle into a groove at the plate.
“Obviously I want to be better,” Bellinger said during the Yankees series at Progressive Field before finishing Wednesday batting .177 with a .527 OPS through 22 games.
“I come to the park every day to make sure that I’m ready to roll and I expect really good things to happen. So I’d like to do more, but overall, I think I just got to keep on sticking with the process and keep swinging at my pitches.”
Bellinger went 1-for-4 with a walk in Wednesday’s 5-1 win, hitting a left-on-left single up the middle in which he reached out to poke an 0-2 changeup on the outside edge.
It is that strong bat-to-ball skill that Aaron Boone sees as something of a blessing and curse for Bellinger, who is hitting the ball a tick harder (90.8 mph) than he has the rest of his career (89.4), but is striking out more (25 percent rate compared to 21.2 for his career).
“Just missing some pitches that he needs to make hay on,” Boone said Wednesday morning. “Probably expanding a little bit in some situations. Because he’s such a good bat-to-ball [hitter], that feeling like, ‘I can get to everything.’ Probably some pitches he’s put in play that you’re better off laying off. But just missing some fastballs where I feel like he’s, ‘Ooh.’ … Just finding that groove, and he will.”
Cody Bellinger reacts after being thrown out at the plate during the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 5-1 win over the Guardians on April 23, 2025.
Bellinger, who fouled a ball off his right calf Wednesday and was still favoring it postgame, indicated that it can be a balancing act of knowing when to try to drive the ball versus taking what a pitcher gives him and finding a hole.
He said it is more of a “feel thing” for him, taking into account the matchup on the mound and other elements.
“I understand the type of player I am,” Bellinger said. “Sometimes that’s there for the taking and sometimes it’s not. So just trying to understand when that’s there. If it’s not, understand you got to be the guy to continue to drive the ball.”
Cody Bellinger is tagged out at the plate by Austin Hedges during the sixth inning of the Yankees’ win over the Guardians.
It has been something of a choppy start to the season for Bellinger, who missed two games in Pittsburgh with a tight back and then another a few days later because of food poisoning.
With the back and early-season buildup in mind, Boone has also given Bellinger two days off since then.
Despite the slow start, Bellinger has consistently hit third against right-handers, though Boone did not close the door on the idea of dropping him in the lineup as he tries to find a rhythm.
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “I’ll consider everything. Trying to find that balance of course. But still expect him to end up hitting somewhere in the middle of the lineup.”
That said, Bellinger has found other ways to contribute besides his bat, with his athleticism standing out. He ended Wednesday’s game by making a running, over-the-shoulder catch onto the warning track in center field — the second time this season he has flashed the leather with a dramatic catch to finish a win.
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“Wow,” Boone said. “I think he misread it initially. That’s a real tough over-the-shoulder catch there. Usually when he gets there and gets his hands on it, he makes the play, but that was a pretty good one.”