CINCINNATI -- Back during summer camp in July, I wrote an article looking at what a 60 game season could mean for Josh Bell. He was one of baseball's best hitters for the first 60 games of the season, but cooled off significantly over the next 60. If the Pirates had any hope of being a surprise team this year, they needed their All-Star slugger to step up again.
Well, Bell isn't hitting and the Pirates aren't winning. The former is a big reason for the latter.
Through the Pirates' first 18 games, Bell is slashing .203/.243/.304 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Bell has always been streaky as a hitter, but this has been one of the worst cold stretches of his career:
Bell has always broken out of these funks before to finish with at least good final season stats. Part of the reason why this slump is so noteworthy is because it's at the beginning of the year. There's no way to hide what he's done.
But this season is only 60 games long. It's almost one-third over. We're rapidly approaching the point of this campaign where even if he finishes strong, it could be the worst year of his career.
There are several, mostly good, theories for why Bell is struggling. We could keep it simple and say the move to batting third in the order could be affecting him, or blame it on the long layoff. The shutdown was different than a regular offseason because Bell didn't have access to the same facilities he normally does. That makes a difference.
Another, perhaps less talked about point is players cannot watch as much video mid-game as they did last year, as the league's health and safety protocols mean they can't be in an enclosed room with video workers.
"I think it’s really tough," Bell said Thursday about the change in video rules. "I was one of the guys last year who would go in after virtually every at-bat and check my timing, check my landing point, try to make adjustments off that. Instead of at-bat-to-at-bat it’s kind of game-to-game."
But the main reason why Bell has a sub-.550 OPS is he is not offering at good pitches. There's no other way around it.
To continue reading, log into your account:
