Freddie Freeman has seen Cody Bellinger at his best and at his worst. So when Freeman speaks, it’s worth listening.
The two were teammates with the Dodgers during Bellinger’s MVP season in 2019 and also during his steep decline that followed. Now Bellinger is back in the All-Star Game for the first time since that 2019 campaign, and Freeman wanted to make sure people understood what that actually means.
“That’s what it is, it’s the never give up,” Freeman said before the All-Star festivities. “There’s so many people that could be really, really good and they start to taper off and then they don’t try and reinvent themselves or figure out something new. And for him, because I was there when he was struggling at the end with us and to have that revise with the Cubs and then carry it over to the Yankees, it’s special. It’s hard to do.”
Bellinger signed a five-year deal with the Yankees this past offseason after the Cubs declined to bring him back. The move was a bet on himself, and so far it’s paying off. Through 94 games, he’s hitting .254 with a .421 on-base percentage and .766 slugging, 11 home runs and 51 RBIs. Those numbers aren’t quite at his 2019 peak, but they’re a world away from where he was in 2021 and 2022, when he looked lost at the plate.
Freeman knows how rare that kind of bounceback is.
“It’s hard to be consistently good in this game for over a long time. It’s even more cool when guys have a down year and they rebound, because that means they’ve worked so hard to try and do that,” Freeman said. “So credit to Cody. We love Cody with the Dodgers. We wish him all the success. We know how hard it is as players to consistently be good. If you have a bit of a down year, it doesn’t mean it’s over. Change your mindset a little bit. And what he’s done over the last four years has been amazing.”
Bellinger was drafted by the Dodgers in the fourth round in 2013. He won Rookie of the Year in 2017, MVP in 2019, then saw his production crater. By 2022, the Dodgers didn’t even tender him a contract, and he became a free agent. He signed with the Cubs in 2023 and started rebuilding his career in Chicago before landing in New York.
Now he’s an All-Star again, and his team is 10 games under .500. The Yankees have been a disappointment this season, but Bellinger’s resurgence is one of the few bright spots. And if anyone understands what it took to get here, it’s the guy who watched it happen from the other side.
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