NEW YORK — Cody Bellinger is swinging less frequently than he has at any point in his career. And yet, he is having his best season since winning the National League MVP Award in 2019. He’s become an even more important player to the New York Yankees since Friday, when Aaron Judge was placed on the injured list.
In the eighth inning of Sunday’s game against the Boston Red Sox, Bellinger broke a 1-1 tie with a solo home run; the Yankees added four more runs in the inning en route to a 6-1 win. But it was Bellinger’s clutch moment that led to the offensive outburst.
Bellinger now has a 138 wRC+ on the season, his best mark since 2019. His 15 Defensive Runs Saved in left field are the most for any player at any position in MLB. With Judge likely out of the American League MVP mix, Bellinger has become a stealth contender for the award. His 3.5 bWAR ranks second, behind only Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., among all AL players.
“I think he’s a five-tool player,” Yankees starter Cam Schlittler said of Bellinger. “Obviously, with the situation with Judge, I think he’s one of the guys that could step up. He’s been in a great position all season. It’s kind of what you expect out of him.”
The Yankees re-signed Bellinger this offseason to a five-year, $162.5 million contract. He was the player they coveted the most in free agency, and they were overt in expressing how badly they wanted him to return.
Months before they re-upped Bellinger, I wrote that I believed Kyle Tucker should be the Yankees’ No. 1 free agency target. My thinking was Tucker had been the more consistent player; you could basically pencil him in as a 4- to 5-WAR player. The Yankees needed a co-star for Judge, and Tucker was the best player on the market and likely the best offensive player available until the 2028 offseason. By that time, Judge will be 36, and who knows if he’ll still be in his prime.
In the offseason debate between Bellinger and Tucker, we were ultimately deciding between two elite profiles. But one player has separated himself this year, and it was not the one I thought would be the pick.
Tucker began this season as one of the most complete offensive players in the sport. In a vacuum, he was the type of star most contenders would prioritize in free agency. But according to a team source, the Yankees expressed only mild interest in Tucker this offseason. The club felt Tucker’s asking price would reach a “stratosphere” that it had no interest in entering. Tucker ended up signing a four-year, $240 million contract with the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who continue operating at the top of the market. That left Bellinger as the next-best offensive player available.
Tucker and Bellinger had been indirectly linked for consecutive years. Before the Houston Astros traded Tucker to the Chicago Cubs in the 2025 offseason, the Yankees engaged in trade conversations for the star. The feeling around the Yankees was that the Astros were not seriously interested in trading one of the sport’s top players to an AL rival. So, instead, the Yankees traded Cody Poteet in a salary-dump move to the Cubs for Bellinger, paving the way for Tucker to land with the Cubs.
Cody Bellinger has excelled in left field, leading the majors with 15 DRS at the position. Chandler Simpson of the Rays is second with 6 DRS in left. (Ishika Samant / Getty Images)
With both players free agents last offseason, it wasn’t always a given that Bellinger would return to the Yankees. There were days when both sides believed he would be playing elsewhere. At one point, Bellinger and his wife, Chase, were looking at schools in other cities for their daughters, Caiden and Cy. But New York was always Bellinger’s preference. Now that free agency is behind him, he can play freely.
“I think the comfortability of not playing for an opt-out, not playing for a contract, has allowed me to elevate my game a little more,” Bellinger said. “It’s really hard. I had a few years where I was a potential opt-out and a potential free agent. Ultimately, it is the same game. Everything just feels a little more pressurized, and you try not to focus on the outside. Honestly, going through that has allowed me to realize that I just need to focus on the game.”
Bellinger’s deal includes opt-outs after the second and third seasons, and a full no-trade clause.
The main thing I did not see coming with Bellinger this season is how dramatically he would improve his on-base skills. Bellinger’s .373 on-base percentage is by far his best mark since his 2019 MVP season. His walk rate has exploded, and his swing decisions have dramatically improved because of it. Bellinger attributes that to feeling better mechanically than he has in years. It has given him a higher comfort level in the batter’s box.
His defense has also improved to a degree that I did not foresee. Bellinger finished with 7 DRS in left field last season. He’s already more than doubled that total this year. When the ball is hit his way, the Yankees can feel at ease that a play will likely be made. Bellinger said going into spring training last year, analysts behind the scenes helped to improve his first step. With better footwork and more reps, he’s flourishing defensively and has positioned himself to win his second Gold Glove Award.
“He’s played so well in left field that, I mean, almost daily you’re just like, man, what a play,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Entering Sunday, Kyle Tucker had a 105 OPS+ and Cody Bellinger had a 133 OPS+. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Tucker’s contact quality metrics have decreased, and his defense has continued to decline. His chase rate has jumped. He’s gone from an above-average hitter in barrel rate to one of the worst. Tucker was one of the most consistent offensive players in the sport, but he’s floundered with the Dodgers. He’s been pressing for results, and it’s resulted in his worst season since he was called up in 2018.
It’s still too early to offer a definitive final verdict on either contract, but the returns so far clearly favor Bellinger.
In my offseason story, I wrote: “As they age, Tucker’s offensive profile is less risky than Bellinger’s.” The rationale, at the time, made sense. Tucker consistently hit the ball with more authority than Bellinger. But this year, Bellinger has posted his hardest average exit velocity since 2019. If he continues hitting the ball hard, while pulling the ball in the air at Yankee Stadium, he’s going to get the desired results. He has a 1.140 OPS this season at Yankee Stadium.
One of the main points that I disagreed with when the Yankees discussed re-signing Bellinger was his defensive versatility. I did not think it was a compelling argument. Titles are usually won by offensive firepower, not the ability to play multiple positions. But if Bellinger continues to provide top-tier offense while playing elite defense, we’re talking about one of the best all-around players in the sport.
Bellinger has evolved into something the Yankees needed going into last offseason: a co-star for Judge who impacts the game on both sides of the ball every night. If this version of Bellinger holds, the conversation around the Yankees’ offseason won’t be about which player they ultimately signed; it will be about how they retained one of the most complete players in baseball.
