The story is the same for each New York team in early spring: expectations are high. For a New York team that comes out of a trip to the World Series, these expectations go to another level.
For Cody Bellingerthe son of a double champion with the Yankees Who came during the offseason in a trade, the expectations and the hunger he saw at the start of spring training does not surprise.
“What I see is the desire to be good, the desire to be good in each of us,” said Bellinger on Tuesday in Tampa. “We all want to be excellent and it goes very far. We all want to play our best capacity, and the need and hunger is there to be great. And it talks about itself.
“I bet on the guys in the locker rooms who have a great character and are superb baseball players that we will all understand it and it will be a fun year.”
Bellinger said he had seen this among the guys who “approached last year” and the new faces, who include the first veteran base player Paul Goldschmidtentrance Max fried and relief Devin Williams: “We are all excited and we are all hungry … We all fight for something.”
Count the new voltiper as someone who fights to continue putting his career on the right track and relying on a pair of decent years consecutive to Chicago, where he posted an average of .286 and .815 OPS (125 OPS +) with 44 circuits in 260 games with the Cubs. It was a resurgence for the old recruit of the NL of the year after having fought powerfully during its last two seasons with the Dodgers, displaying an average of .193 and 0.611 OPS (66 ops +) with 29 Circuits in 239 games.
“I think that building a truly solid approach during these two years,” said Bellinger. “Loss my approach a little, lost the mechanisms a bit, these are disaster recipes in this game.”
During the two seasons with the Northsiders, the former NL MVP radically reduced its withdrawal rate, going from 150 in its last 550 appearances to Los Angeles to 176 stick withdraws more than 1,125 times in Chicago.
“I just come back my confidence. Understand where my barrel is, where my body is, “he continued. “And simply build two very good seasons and make the adjustments to be even better because I expect more from me.”
The 29 -year -old added that new information from the Yanks staff this spring was not too overwhelming with the organization “sprinkle” in certain adjustments. “Was not too much, it was solid, and I think it will benefit me,” he said.
Of course, Bellinger could get an even greater boost by occupying a place in the programming that Juan Soto Benefit during its isolated season in the Bronx: hit before the MVP ride Aaron judge. But while the judge helps everyone around him improve, Bellinger is good with any place Aaron Boonethe range.
“Wherever they think is the best possibility for the range to be the most fluid or the most consistent,” he said. “Two, three or four, whatever. No matter for me.
And while Bellinger will take a place in the outside field that Soto has left vacant, he does not see his presence – or that of Goldschmidt – as “replacing” the generational talent that signed with the dishes.
“For me and Paul, it may not necessarily replace anyone, but to come and play our best capacity,” said Bellinger. “And we know what is our best ability and if we reach these levels, I think it could be fun. Every day … we strive for that. We strive to be excellent, we strive to be great. »»
On the first veteran first goal player, Bellinger qualified his colleague as a long -standing national league for “pro”.
“It is a guy who was coherent throughout his career-defensively, really sly, very good basic runner, steals the bases, the offensive speaks of himself,” he said. “A guy who expects a lot from himself and I expect very good things, I expect Paul to be Paul. He’s a great player. “”
Goldschmidt is another new Yank who seeks to bounce after having had a difficult season with Saint-Louis in which he posted an average of career .245 with only 22 circuits and 65 products produced and a 0.716 in career (98 ops + ) in 154 games.
“I hope it doesn’t look like an excuse, I think the truth was that I just didn’t play well for more than a year and a good part of last year,” he said Tuesday. “It was regrettable, but it was not because of a lack of effort, I was doing everything I could. I took a ton of swings and all that. But this game is hard, the launchers are good and you go down a little by a little and it can go down.
The 37 -year -old said that he hoped it could be a “good thing” for his career and “learn”.
“But there will be other things that will appear, there is always in this game, you never quote-unquoot understand it,” he said, adding that his goal is to remain coherent every day. “I know there will be ups and downs, but the more you are consistent, you have a blow every day to help the team.”
The veteran saw a resurgence in the second half of 2024, while his average increased to 0.271 from 0.230 and OPS to 0.799 from 0.665 before the stars break, and has the impression that he is in the right place at the start of training spring.
“I just didn’t play well,” said Goldschmidt. “There is no excuse. I think everything I want to do is continue to work and try to help us win every night. The effort was there, the performance was not and I ‘Hope it will be better this year. “
