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IT WAS AN early Saturday morning at Wrigley Field. Most of the Chicago Cubs‘ roster wouldn’t arrive for their game against the Kansas City Royals for hours. But at 8:30 a.m., about six hours before first pitch, Cubs center fielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger and hitting coach Dustin Kelly took the field.

Bellinger had been unhappy with his approach at the plate in the previous game, a 4-3 defeat. He went 0-for-5 with a strikeout, uncharacteristically swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. And so he and Kelly went through an extended batting practice, working on reading pitches and keeping his hip from flying open.

The work paid off. Later that day, Bellinger had his 17th career multihomer game and surpassed the 20 home run mark in a season for the first time since 2019 — the year he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Back then, Bellinger’s career arc had him on track to be one of the great players of his era. A Rookie of the Year Award in 2017 was followed by the MVP in 2019 — which came with a Gold Glove, as well. In between, he played in 162 games in 2018. Durable and productive, at one of the game’s premier positions, the 6-foot-4 lefty swinger was also working his way toward a massive payday.

And then he dislocated his right shoulder celebrating a home run in the 2020 National League Championship Series while leaping into the air to meet teammate Enrique Hernandez for a forearm bash. And everything changed.

“I came back as soon as possible from it, not knowing anything,” Bellinger told ESPN. “I never dealt with an injury. I never thought how surgery would really affect me. Didn’t even know that it did until later on in that year (2021) when I did some one-hand drills. I was like, ‘I had no idea where anything [with the shoulder] is right now.'”

“This is about barrel control,” his agent, Scott Boras, said in a phone interview. “You have to have the strength to have the barrel control in your front arm. He couldn’t keep his barrel on plane. He couldn’t extend it. He just couldn’t execute the normal, Cody Bellinger swing.”

Some of the circumstances were out of his control. The pandemic got in the way of his recovery from the shoulder surgery in 2020.

“Then we had a lockout and I couldn’t work with people that I wanted to work with,” Bellinger said. “I never got to get back to who I was until this offseason.”

As a result, his numbers plummeted; Bellinger compiled an OPS+ of just 44 in 2021 and 81 in 2022. He hit .165 in 95 games in 2021, limited by the shoulder and a foot injury. His .210 batting average in 2022 came with just 38 walks and 150 strikeouts. His days in Los Angeles were done. He wasn’t offered a contract for the 2023 season.

“With an actual injury, it can be tough, because it can feel like you’re putting all your energy into just going out to play,” Cubs teammate Dansby Swanson said. “It can rob you of your joy of playing and being present, in the moment.”

Swanson speaks from experience. In 2018, an injured wrist impacted him early and late that season, forcing him to miss the playoffs.

“Mentally, it’s a grind,” he said. “Without knowing it you may be protecting yourself a little bit. ‘I’m trying to do this with my swing, but my body is not allowing me to do what I want to do.'”

It’s the same experience Bellinger had — but this past offseason was a difference-maker. He was healthy and more relaxed, working out with family, including dad Clay, a former big league player.

“I was hitting at my high school with him,” the younger Bellinger said. “Just having fun on the baseball field, remembering again it’s just a game. It’s the same game I was playing since I was 7.”

Bellinger, finally healthy, has found his stroke again in Chicago. He has been so good the surprising Cubs elected not to deal him at the trade deadline despite some high-profile suitors — and instead he has become the face of an unlikely contender. And though his immediate focus is a wild-card spot, if not an NL Central title, Bellinger will become one of baseball’s most sought-after free agents after the season.


NO ONE IN Bellinger’s orbit was shocked when the Dodgers non-tendered him. Even with two down seasons, the arbitration system still meant a hefty salary for 2023, and there were lingering question marks about his game. Could a team contending for a World Series afford the gamble?

“The point I made to [Cubs president] Jed [Hoyer] and others is when a player has 1.000 OPS and .900 OPS seasons, and never below .800, and is ROY/MVP all in three years, then has a .550 and .650 OPS, it’s obviously not skill,” Boras said. “It’s lack of shoulder strength due to surgery.

“Jed agreed. A healthy Cody is the five-tool MVP Cody.”

The Cubs signed him to a one-year, $17.5 million contract in mid-December. They were in the middle of a retooling phase and could afford whatever Bellinger could give them. If he was good, and it helped them win, great. If he was good, but the team wasn’t, they could try flipping him in July. If Bellinger couldn’t return to form, Hoyer could fall back on an old baseball adage: There are no bad one-year deals. Bellinger would move on in 2024, making room for top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Instead, Bellinger has been great, alternating between center field and first base, playing elite defense while putting up big offensive numbers. His .924 OPS ranks fifth in the NL, as does his WRC+ of 145. He’s not likely to win the NL MVP but he’ll get plenty of down-ballot votes. And he has easily been the MVP of the Cubs, who went 11-15 for exactly a month without him in the lineup because of a knee injury. More telling, their team OPS dropped more than 100 points without him, from .763 to .651.

Bellinger’s average exit velocity (87.2 mph) is actually the lowest of his career, and there’s no one in MLB with a bigger difference between his expected (.266) and actual (.321) batting average. His .333 batting average on balls in play helps in that department, but he gets credit for making more contact than ever. His strikeout percentage has crashed, from a career-high 27.3% last season to a career-low 15.7% this year.

“Being able to control the bat and hit more pitches,” Bellinger explained about what being healthy means. “It doesn’t have to be in one spot of the zone anymore. Able to consistently put my swing on the ball, and that creates results.”

His comeback began in January in those batting sessions with his father, then continued with Cubs hitting coaches with whom he had familiarity — former Dodgers coaches Kelly and Johnny Washington.

“It worked out that I lived super close to the spring complex [in Mesa, Arizona],” Bellinger said. “And I knew those guys. The transition was easy.”

Kelly was asked for some technical reasons for Bellinger finding his groove again, now that he’s healthy:

“A lot of it is setup,” Kelly explained. “He’s grounded in with his back leg a little bit more. He has a little more flex in his back hip. There’s a slight bend in his back knee. And he’s kind of set his hands slightly higher than they had been. We got him back up by his ear. It’s allowed him to set his line. When he’s lined up in the box and kind of gets that release point from the pitcher, he’s got a really good posture and line that he sticks to. I think that’s the feeling he’s been searching for.”

Getting his shoulder right and then his mechanics was half the battle. Baseball might be the only sport for which even stars need constant reassurance. Building up their hitters is also half the job for hitting coaches.

“The game will beat you up,” Kelly said. “We’re constantly reminding them you’re really good. There aren’t a lot of guys in this league that do what you do.

“[The pitcher’s] name doesn’t say Bellinger on the back of his jersey. Confidence is a big deal. We try to pump him up every so often.”


AS BELLINGER FOUND success in the first half, the Cubs were still figuring out the course of their season. Would they be contending at the trade deadline — or offloading? Chicago’s front office executed resets in each of the past two seasons, taking criticism for trading away 2016 World Series stars Javy Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. Those deals look brilliant in hindsight.

For Bellinger’s part, he understood what he was getting into when he signed: “I knew that getting traded was a possibility. You can’t think that far ahead.”

As the trade deadline shook out, with few hitters on the market, it became more clear the Cubs would not only save salary by moving Bellinger, but also likely get a haul in return.

“He was a popular guy,” Hoyer said. “Clearly, he was going to be the best bat available. A lot of teams checked in on him.”

None were ready to be more aggressive than the New York Yankees, according to sources familiar with the situation. But as the days to the deadline ticked down, the Cubs kept on winning.

Scoring eight unanswered runs against the White Sox on July 26 after falling behind 7-2 secured one victory, then, two days later, a two-out, ninth-inning, over-the-wall catch by Mike Tauchman in St. Louis clinched another one. What was going to be a tough deadline strategy decision for Hoyer turned into an easy one: Serious offers for Bellinger, Marcus Stroman and others were never discussed.

“By the time we got to that point, it became obvious,” Hoyer said. “Teams were calling, saying, ‘You’re not selling. You guys are good, you guys are going to buy.’ People stopped taking us seriously as a seller.”

One scout following Bellinger joked, “He wasted my expense account, following this guy around.”

At this point, Hoyer was having daily conversations with ownership involving one simple question: Can the team compete for the playoffs if it adds instead of subtracts at the trade deadline?

“Over the course of those last two weeks of July, the answer kept coming back yes,” Cubs owner Tom Ricketts told ESPN. “We always have the ability to improve in the middle of the season. The players get to decide for us. If we play well enough to add, we do it. If we don’t, then we have to think about the future.

“This is Jed’s call. In the end, he’s responsible for the performance on the field, both the current season and future seasons, so it’s a tough spot to put him in, but that’s his responsibility. We talk every day, but thankfully the team played its way into being really comfortable [in the standings].”

But Ricketts wasn’t the only one Hoyer was hearing from. Swanson, on the IL because of a heel injury, inserted himself into the process, too.

“Dansby on the IL was a dangerous thing,” Hoyer said recently on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. “He was almost a front office member at that point because he was bored.

“He kept on saying, ‘We’re trying to build something and you can’t just snap your fingers and say now we’re winning.’ He wanted to keep pushing. ‘We may make it, we may not, but we’ll continue to have a winning culture.’ That was his point.

“He’s a better shortstop than a front office member, but he was really helpful in the process.”

On trade deadline day, Bellinger had three hits. He would add 16 more over the next 10 games helping the Cubs move further into wild-card contention. The NL Central title is also in reach. His 1.018 OPS in August is seventh in the NL. Barring a terrible September, Bellinger will enter free agency as the best player on the market this side of Shohei Ohtani. A package worth upward of $150 million to $200 million — or more — isn’t out of the question.

Bellinger is waving off questions about his future.

“There’s still so much to do,” he said. “We’re in the playoff hunt. It gives us purpose every day we come to the park.”

But when pushed about staying in Chicago — perhaps at first base as Crow-Armstrong matures to the big leagues — Bellinger added:

“Wrigley Field is an amazing place to play baseball. It’s cool coming here on the road, but it’s something different playing for the home team. It really is one of the best places to play.”

He noted that his former team seemed to visit Chicago early in the season, mostly in April and May, in recent years.

“I never saw the ivy,” Bellinger said with a smile. “It’s cool.”

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Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG

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Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG

Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.

Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.

The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.

If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.

Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.

“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”

Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.

“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”

Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.

The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.

In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.

“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”

The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.

Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.

Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.

The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”

Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.

Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.

San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.

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Bellinger goes deep for 3rd time after Cubs rob HR

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Bellinger goes deep for 3rd time after Cubs rob HR

NEW YORK — Robbed an inning earlier, Cody Bellinger wasn’t sure his first three-homer game had been swiped away again.

“I didn’t know at first,” he said. “For that third one to finally get over feels pretty good.”

Bellinger hit three two-run homers against his former team and was denied a fourth by a spectacular catch, leading the Yankees to an 11-0 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.

Aaron Judge made a trio of outstanding grabs in right field for the Yankees, who have won five straight games following a a six-game losing streak.

Bellinger, whose dad Clay played for the Yankees from 1999 to 2001, is a two-time All-Star and 2019 NL MVP.

He spent 2023 and 2024 with the Cubs, hitting .266 with 18 homers and 78 RBIs in 130 games last year while missing time because of a broken right rib. The Cubs traded him to New York in December with $52.5 million remaining on his contract and agreed to pay the Yankees $5 million.

He homered in a three-run third off Chris Flexen and in the fifth against Caleb Thielbar for this 18th multihomer game. Bellinger nearly went deep in the seventh but was robbed by Kyle Tucker on a drive above the right-field wall.

“I was watching it. He timed it up perfect, so I was a little sick about it, honestly,” Bellinger said. “But it was a good catch.”

“Boys were giving me a hard time after he robbed it. Boonie was giving me hard time,” Bellinger added.

A four-time All-Star and a Gold Glove winner, Tucker snatched the ball as a fan tried for it, the spectator clasping both sides of the outfielder’s glove.

“I caught the ball and he caught my glove, so I figured even if I dropped it they’d probably look at it and get it overturned,” Tucker said. “I’ve probably had some encounters with me trying to go into the stands and catching a ball and me hitting someone’s hand or whatever but I don’t know if anyone’s ever actually kind of caught my glove while doing it.”

Bellinger homered in the eighth off Jordan Wicks, just above the red glove of leaping center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and into the dark glove of a kid in the front row.

“The fan just beat to the spot,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He just had a better chance of catching it higher than I did.”

Bellinger, who had rounded first, watched and then smiled when he saw he had hit No. 3.

“Glad the fan caught it before PCA could grab it,” said Bellinger, who met the boy after and got the ball back. “I’ve seen PCA rob so many homers. He’s a freak athlete out there.”

Bellinger is batting .406 over a career-high 16-game hitting streak, raising his average to .285 with 16 homers and 54 RBIs.

He had spoken with his Cubs ex-teammates during batting practice.

“No, no, no revenge,” he said. “Honestly, ultimately it was just fun to be out there. I saw a bunch of guys I hadn’t seen in a while and I shared a bunch of good memories with them for these past two years.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. and manager Aaron Boone encouraged Bellinger to emerge from the dugout for a curtain call.

“He was a little reluctant, but then the Bell-lin-ger” over the dugout got pretty loud. So I think he succumbed to it,” Boone said. “Belly’s loved being here and loved playing here in a meaningful place to him, going back to his childhood.”

Bellinger turns 30 on Sunday and can opt out of the final season of his contract this fall. With long balls and wide smiles, he seems to have found a home in the Yankees clubhouse.

He tried not to make much of getting the three homers against the Cubs, but Bellinger’s teammates could sense the significance.

“It’s always good to go against your old teammates that you spend a lot of time with, you know, you respect,” Boone said. “To perform right away against them I’m sure probably is a little cherry on top for him.”

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M’s Raleigh hits 2 more HRs, brings total to 38

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M's Raleigh hits 2 more HRs, brings total to 38

DETROIT — Cal Raleigh hit his 37th and 38th home runs in Seattle‘s 12-3 victory over Detroit on Friday night to move within one of Barry Bonds’ 2001 major league record for homers before the All-Star break.

Raleigh hit a solo homer off former teammate Tyler Holton in the eighth to tie the American League record of 37 before the All-Star break set by Reggie Jackson in 1969 and matched by Chris Davis in 2013.

“[Holton] and I are really good friends, and I’ve caught a lot of his pitches,” said Raleigh, who was in the lineup as the designated hitter instead of at catcher. “I don’t think that helped much, but I’m sure he’s not very happy with me.”

Raleigh hit a grand slam off Brant Hurter in the ninth.

“I didn’t even know it was a record until just now,” Raleigh said. “I don’t have words for it, I guess. I’m just very grateful and thankful.”

It was Raleigh’s eighth multihomer game this season, tying Jackson (also in 1969) for the most such games before the All-Star break in MLB history, according to ESPN Research. He also tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the most multihomer games in Mariners franchise history.

Seattle has two games left in Detroit before the break.

“Cal Raleigh … this is just unbelievable,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s already set the AL record and now he’s only one short of Barry. There are two games, so who knows?”

Raleigh hit 10 homers in March and April, 12 in May, 11 in June and has five in July.

“This is a very boring comment, but baseball is all about consistency,” Wilson said. “This hasn’t been one hot streak, he’s doing this month after month. That says everything.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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