Dodgers: Cody Bellinger Snubbed on MLB Player of the Year Nomination

Depending on which outlet you look at, Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger was worth anywhere between 7.8-9.0 WAR in 2019. If you’re not keen to advanced stats, let’s just say that’s very, very good. The 9.0 mark from Baseball Reference is tops in all of baseball, and the 7.8 from FanGraphs is third in the game.

With an average over .300 (.305), 47 home runs, and 115 runs batted in this past season, it’s safe to identify Bellinger as one of the top players in the game.

Now we see that his peers didn’t see it that way.

#Dodgers Cody Bellinger did not make the final three in player voting https://t.co/TwjlTmqSjm

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 18, 2019

The MLBPA nominated Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, and Christian Yelich for the Player’s Choice “Player of the Year” award in 2019. Not to take away from the bodies of work that Rendon et al produced this season, but the fact that Trout or Yelich didn’t eclipse more than 134 games played should conceivably be taken into consideration.

Bellinger on the other hand appeared in 156 games. But really, this point is just nitpicking on the part of this writer.

Player Stats in 2019

From Baseball-Reference.com

It should be noted that this award was voted on before the playoffs got underway, so for readers quick to point out Cody’s postseason performance, it didn’t play a factor.

Again — this is a regular season award. Votes were collected before the postseason started. https://t.co/msoqA1Aaaf

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 19, 2019

Thank you to Bill Plunkett for being a leader on the front lines for that point.

While the slugger is still in the running for the National League MVP award — and is still considered by some to be the front runner to win it — this still stings just a bit.

What are your thoughts? Should Belli have gotten the better end of the stick?