It can be difficult for any player to perform in his first month with the New York Yankees, as the 2025 season has once again proven.
Much of the attention over the last week has been on Devin Williams, the slumping two-time All-Star who was recently demoted from the closer role. But don’t forget the Yankees’ other signature trade acquisition of the offseason: outfielder Cody Bellinger.
Bellinger, the former National League Most Valuable Player and two-time All-Star, is hitting .194 so far with a .574 OPS through 107 plate appearances. Plus, he missed two games with food poisoning, so it’s just been a rough month altogether.
Through the struggles, the Yankees have kept Bellinger high in the order, batting him third behind superstar Aaron Judge most nights. However, one baseball writer is calling on manager Aaron Boone to make a tough call.
On Tuesday, FanSided’s Chris Landers urged Boone to drop Bellinger down in the order to get his bearings, putting a hotter hitter like Trent Grisham, Paul Goldschmidt, or Ben Rice in the number-three spot behind Judge instead.
“Aaron Boone has shown no inclination to drop Bellinger from hitting third in the team’s lineup against right-handed pitching,” Landers wrote. “In theory, it makes sense: Boone wants Aaron Judge hitting second, and he also wants to surround his best hitter with two lefties…
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“But that only works if Bellinger is, you know, making pitchers pay, and he’s simply not doing that right now… He’s not hitting anything hard, and that’s a huge liability in a run-producing spot in the lineup… Far too often potential rallies have been cut short by Bellinger’s inability to get the job done.”
For someone with his credentials, Bellinger has been awfully inconsistent in his career. He had a dreadful stretch from 2021 to 2022 with the Los Angeles Dodgers that prompted a non-tender after the season, leading the Chicago Cubs to sign him to a one-year contract.
Though Bellinger had a productive two-year stint in Chicago that seemingly got his career back on track, he’ll need to turn things around in a big way to have a shot at matching the $27.5 million salary he’s currently playing on. He also has a $25 million player option for 2026.
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