How Cody Bellinger found his zone

June 25, 2019

Coming off a sophomore slump, Cody Bellinger spent his offseason refining his swing. Now he's a frontrunner for NL MVP, and has developed into one of baseball's best hitters.

Working with new hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, Bellinger leads the majors in batting average and offensive wins above replacement (WAR), and is among the league leaders in several other categories. A low strikeout rate and high slugging percentage are among the factors fueling his numbers.

However, two key metrics can help explain his improvement -- launch angle and exit velocity.

Launch angle is the vertical angle with which the ball leaves the bat. Many players strive to increase their launch angle to add backspin on the ball and produce home runs. Bellinger, however, is bucking the trend by reducing his launch angle while increasing exit velocity.

Bellinger's average launch angle has decreased year over year from 16.5 degrees to 15.6 degrees, producing fewer pop flys and more line drives to gaps and fly balls over fences. Meanwhile, Bellinger's exit velocity has increased from 89.3 mph in 2018 to 92.1 mph this year, which is in the league's 93rd percentile.

The combination puts him in an optimal statistical zone that historically has provided the most hits for batters.

Where Bellinger is batting

Hits

06800+

This chart establishes the launch angle and exit velocities that produced the most hits in baseball in 2018.

The most hits are highlighted here, between the prime areas of 5 and 30 degrees launch angle, and 95 and 105 MPH in exit velocity.

During his rookie season in 2017, Cody batted about 25% inside the desired area.

Last season, he dropped to 22%.

During the 2019 season, 37% of Bellinger’s batted balls have produced the optimal combination of launch angle and exit velocity.

The past two seasons, 26% of his hits were within that optimal combination. This season, that’s been true for about 32% of his hits.

The Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich, the reigning NL MVP, is batting .342 despite sending batted balls into the 5- to 30-degree range only 18% of the time. Yelich has more than doubled his average launch angle from 4.7 to 11.7 and has one of the highest average exit velocities in baseball at 93.7 mph.

The Angels’ Mike Trout is having another productive season, leading the American League in metrics such as WAR (5.0), on-base percentage (.462), and slugging percentage (.651). But he hasn't cracked the top 10 in batting average, and his lack of consistent launch angle could be a reason.

Another of baseball’s best hitters, the Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado, has one of the lowest strikeout rates at 12.7%. But he's not creating the optimum combination of launch angle and exit velocity as often as Bellinger.