Former NL MVP award winner Cody Bellinger has agreed to a one-year, $17.5 million deal with the Cubs, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand Tuesday night. The club has not confirmed the move.
Bellinger put together a remarkable 2019 season for the Dodgers en route to National League MVP — but he’s struggled in the three seasons since. After hitting .305 with 1.035 OPS and 47 homers in his MVP winning campaign, Bellinger has hit just .203 with .648 OPS and 41 homers over the past three years combined.
The 27-year-old Bellinger showed some flashes of his past success in 2022, amassing 19 home runs and 14 stolen bases. He also recorded seven above-average outs as a daily midfielder for a Dodgers team that won an MLB-high 111 games. Bellinger’s seven OAA was shared by all NL midfielders in third place.
Still, Bellinger is hoping to rediscover the form that propelled him into one of the game’s best players in his first three seasons in the big league. He burst onto the scene in 2017, hitting 39 homers in just 132 games on his way to NL Rookie of the Year.
Bellinger followed that up with a 25-homer season while playing all 162 games in 2018 — and earning NLCS MVP honors that postseason. Then in 19, he put his career year together, earning his second All-Star selection, first Gold Glove Award, and first Silver Slugger in the process.
His struggles began in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season before injuries derailed his 21-season campaign. He had 21 three appearances on the injured list, missed almost two months with a broken left tibia, two more weeks with a left hamstring strain and 10 more days with a broken left rib.
After a largely healthy 2022 season, Bellinger will look to hit the ground running in ’23.