How Cubs’ Cody Bellinger, hitting coach Dustin Kelly developed a ‘good chemistry’ fast

As new Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger has been working with new major-league hitting coach Dustin Kelly at the team’s Arizona complex this offseason, they’ve found they use the same hitting vocabulary.

“There’s not as much sifting through information,” Kelly told the Sun-Times. “We get to the point pretty quick.”

The overlap – when talking about Bellinger’s load, gather and pressure points in his back leg – was a side effect of their crossover in the Dodgers organization that Kelly hadn’t necessarily anticipated. Kelly’s three seasons as a hitting coach in the Dodgers farm system overlapped with Bellinger’s MVP season, so he’s had an inside view of Bellinger at his best.

That connection has given them a bit of a head start as Bellinger embarks on what both parties hope will be a comeback season.

“Everyone interprets hitting in their own way,” Bellinger said in a hallway behind the Sheraton Grand Chicago ballroom that hosted the main Cubs Convention panels this weekend. “And it makes sense up here [in your head], but if I were to say it, you’d be like, ‘What are you talking about?’ So, I’m able to speak my language, and what I’m feeling and what I want to do, and he’s interpreting it really well. And we’ve just got good chemistry, and I knew that going in the process, how good he was.”

This weekend marked Bellinger’s first convention as a Cub, an event largely centered around introducing the many new faces of the organization to the fanbase after a two-year pandemic-related hiatus. Bellinger’s status was unique.

Newcomers like Dansby Swanson and Jameson Taillon, both signed to multi-year deals, were settling into a long relationship with their new club. But it’s been clear from the start that Bellinger, as complimentary as he was of the organization and the event, is on a pillow contract.

Coming off a couple bad seasons, his time with the Cubs would ideally reposition him in the free agent market next year and set him up for a more lucrative long-term deal. And the Cubs, with a strong group of outfield prospects coming up behind Bellinger, can benefit from whatever strides the accomplished center fielder does take while keeping their options open for the future.

“I’m really excited to see how he works defensively,” said Cubs center field prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, who had already met Bellinger through mutual friends.

Crow-Armstrong, the Cubs’ No. 1 prospect, added that he doesn’t read too much into the Cubs signing Bellinger to a one-year deal, as opposed to another outfielder on a multi-year deal. But the move could affect Crow-Armstrong’s trajectory. He is one of at least three top Cubs outfield prospects on track to be major-league ready by the end of next season.

Injuries have pushed back Brennen Davis and Alexander Canario’s timelines. Davis was expected to debut in 2022, before he underwent back surgery. He returned from the operation for the last month of the Triple-A season but had to leave the Arizona Fall League early. He said Saturday that his back is 100 percent healthy. His focus this offseason will be on building back strength.

Canario, on the other hand, isn’t expected to be fully cleared in time for the start of spring training. He broke his left ankle and dislocated his left shoulder in the Dominican Winter League a couple months ago and was in a walking boot at Cubs Convention this weekend.

There are enough games in the season for others – like Christopher Morel, Davis, or even Crow-Armstrong, depending on his development path – to make appearances in center field. But Bellinger is penciled in as the regular starter.

“I’ve had a blast, just last night and today,” Bellinger said Saturday of Cubs convention, his introduction to the fan base. “And just excited to be a part of it. It just feels right.”

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