6 years agoCody Bellinger was unable to live up to his lofty second-round fantasy expectations last season after hitting 39 HR in 132 games as a rookie in 2017. Some would call it a classic “Sophomore Slump”, but the power certainly regressed for the 23-year-old. He hit just 25 taters in 2018, as his HR/FB ratio dropped 10 points from the rookie campaign. But despite the HR totals, Bellinger still showed plenty to be excited about for 2019. The first ray of sunshine was speed. He swiped 14 bags and was only caught once all year, which was good for second best among qualified first basemen (it’s weird seeing Ian Desmond there, no?). The second improvement was lowering his strikeout rate by 3% while raising his contact rates. For a youngster with a massive power swing, that’s a great sign in the long-run. The last stat I would like to point out is that despite hitting far fewer balls over the fence, his hard hit rate stayed over 40%. The main difference between 2017 and 2018 for Bellinger were some ugly splits against LHP and oddly enough, at Home. We expect positive regression in both areas in 2019, leading to a spike in HR and a big bounce-back for the Dodgers stud. He is a top-five first baseman for 2019 fantasy drafts and should be scooped up before the end of the fourth round.--JB Branson - RotoBaller