While Cody Bellinger may be putting the finishing touches on an MVP season for the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend, his full body of work is finished in another area.
Furthermore, Bellinger will finish the 2019 MLB season with the third most popular player jersey in MLB, based on sales from MLBShop.com. This news comes from a tweet from Front Office Sports, which lists the top ten.
Aaron Judge will finish the 2019 season with the most popular player jersey in MLB for the third consecutive season, based on sales from https://t.co/Q41DuW1LXu.
For the first time since MLB player jersey rankings have been released, the 9 most popular players are all under 30. pic.twitter.com/djRNL9JBtV
— Front Office Sports (@frntofficesport) September 27, 2019
Equally important, you may recall a year ago right now when Bellinger finished 15h, and Clayton Kershaw finished fourth. Certainly, the huge jump in ranking from 2018 to 2019 for Bellinger shows not only a popularity stock on the rise; but a young player who is very marketable.
Here is how the top ten rounds out for most popular MLB jerseys in 2019:
- Aaron Judge
- Bryce Harper
- Cody Bellinger
- Javier Baez
- Christian Yelich
- Ronald Acuña Jr.
- Mookie Betts
- Josie Altuve
- Mike Trout
- Anthony Rizzo
Indeed, Bellinger was already a popular player which was shown by where he finished in 2018. Plus, playing in a Los Angeles market has never hurt national appeal. Combine that with the fact he’s hit 46 home runs to the tune of an 8.6 fWAR and made highlight reel defensive plays all year. Simply put, Bellinger is money in the bank in terms of a product that moves like a jersey.
While the full top-20 won’t be released until after the season, it will be interesting to see where fellow superstar Dodgers like Kershaw and Walker Buehler rank among other Los Angeles players.
Finally, it’s important to remember that baseball is somewhat a regional sport. For instance, Mike Trout is considered the best player in the game perennially. However, he’s ranked just ninth on this list. A question of interest to think about is what does Bellinger bring to the table that makes his jersey sell better than Trout? Is it simply the Dodgers’ popularity?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.