As a new year draws near, the offseason has already been quite an eventful one for Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Cody Bellinger. On the heels of a historic 2019 campaign, the 24-year-old was named National League MVP over the likes of Christian Yelich and Anthony rendon. Bellinger became the first Dodgers player to win the award since Clayton Kershaw in 2014, and the first position-player to do so since Kirk Gibson in 1988. Bellinger success at the plate was further recognized in the form of a Silver Slugger Award. His defensive efforts during the 2019 season also earned him his first career Gold Glove Award in right field, as well as a pair of Fielding Bible Awards.
Bellinger got off to a torrid start in 2019, and on April 26 he hit his 13th home run of the season and set a new MLB record with 88 total bases before the month of May, a record previously set by Chase Utley with the 2008 Phillies. He also passed Matt Kemp for the Dodgers record for most home runs in that span. His 97 total bases, 37 RBI and 47 hits all established new major league records for before May 1, while his 14 home runs and 32 runs scored tied MLB records. He earned his first Player of the Month award in April 2019. Bellinger carried a .400 batting average into mid-May and finished the first half in the top 5 in the NL in average, home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. He was voted as the right fielder for the National League in the 2019 All Star game 55 and set a new Dodgers franchise record with 30 home runs before the All-Star Game. Bellinger was ejected for the first time in his career in a game against the Los Angeles Angels on July 24 by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes. On August 2, Bellinger hit his 100th career home run off of Eric Lauer of the San Diego Padres. By doing so, he became the fastest player in Dodgers history to accomplish that feat. He did it in his 401st game, surpassing Mike Piazza who took 422 games to get there. On August 15, at just 24 years old he became the youngest player in Dodgers history to hit 40 home runs in a season. Bellinger finished the regular season with a .305 batting average, 47 home runs, and 115 RBI, all career highs. He led the major leagues in WAR (9.0) and intentional walks (21). On defense in 2019, he had a 19 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) rating, the best in the major leagues among right fielders. After the season, Bellinger was awarded the Fielding Bible Award for both right field and multi-positional categories, the first Dodger outfielder to win the award and the first player to win two in the same season. He also won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for right field.He also won the Silver Slugger Award, becoming just the fifth Dodgers player in history to win both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in the same season. Bellinger also was voted the NL MVP.