Cody Bellinger had quite the year in 2019. He put himself firmly in the conversation as one of the game’s brightest young stars and had an MVP-type campaign at just 24 years old. The sky seems to be the limit for the talented first baseman and outfielder.
On the season, Bellinger put together an incredible .305/.406/.629 slash line with a 162 wRC+ mark. He racked up 7.8 WAR to boot. However, with a second-half decline, it is not out of the question to say that Bellinger had an even better on the defensive side of the ball.
Bellinger was the best defensive player that was not a catcher in 2019 by a wide range of metrics. It was no surprise when he was named a finalist for the Gold Glove Award in right field and it was also no surprise when he won the Fielding Bible Award from Sports Info Solutions. He was downright incredible — and that is why Cody Bellinger is your 2019 Gold Glove winner in 2019.
#Rawlings #GoldGlove Award WINNER – NL RF – @Dodgers @Cody_Bellinger pic.twitter.com/b6rOD0DhNf
— Rawlings Sports (@RawlingsSports) November 4, 2019
The Dodgers slugger beat out Bryce Harper from the Phillies, and 5-time Gold Glove winner Jason Heyward from the Cubs.
Bellinger put up 7 Outs Above Average (OAA) per Statcast and 26 combined Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) per Fangraphs. He put up 19 DRS in right field, in particular, leading the position. The most impressive part of that, though, is that Bellinger played far less innings In right field than his counterparts due to bouncing around to first base and center field — and he still did that.
Congratulations to Cody Bellinger on the first Gold Glove of many that have yet to come.
