The Dodgers have graduated a ton of homegrown talent this decade by placing an emphasis on their farm system. At the tail end of the 2000s, the Dodgers really began to manufacture talent with the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier making their debuts.
In the 2010s, the list of manufactured All-Stars is long. The Dodgers have had top-tier prospects like Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger come up in recent years with names like Gavin Lux, Dustin May, and Keibert Ruiz poised to make the 2020s their own.
According to MLB.com’s prospect group of Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Mike Rosenbaum, Cody Bellinger is the Dodgers’ top prospect of the 2010s and it makes total sense. Bellinger is the only homegrown talent of the Dodgers who graduated this decade to win an MVP award.
Cody Love! Arguments could be made for Seags and Buehler too, but ROY and MVP awards definitely put you over the top. https://t.co/gcDJfJpUuR
— Clint Pasillas (FRG) (@realFRG) December 30, 2019
Here is what MLB.com had to say about Bellinger:
Bellinger had a pretty left-handed stroke and big league bloodlines, yet he lasted four rounds as an Arizona high schooler in 2013 because he was lanky and had yet to exhibit the power teams wanted at first base. He struggled in his pro debut and hit just three homers in his second pro season, then effortlessly changed his stroke and approach and went deep 30 times in his third. That foreshadowed a then-NL rookie record 39 homers in 2017 and 47 more in 2019, when he won an MVP Award and a Gold Glove in right field.
Bellinger is not just the best Dodgers prospect of the decade. He is also one of the best, period. In his short time in the league — 450 games — Bellinger has already crushed 111 home runs and has been worth 15.4 WAR. He is a Hall of Famer if he maintain his current pace. He now has an MVP, a Gold Glove, and two All-Star appearances. He should be one of the best players in the league for quite some time.
