Pirates' Josh Bell named National League player of the month
Josh Bell, whose monumental and historic home runs are turning him into the face of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise, was named Monday as the National League player of the month.
Bell, 26, led the Major Leagues with 46 hits and 31 RBIs in May, but five of his 12 home runs especially caught the eye of player of the month voters and fans. Those homers landed between 446-472 feet from home plate at PNC Park and Chase Field in Arizona. Two plopped directly into the Allegheny River outside PNC Park. Only five home runs have reached the river on the fly, and Bell hit two of them within two weeks.
Big drip, what you call it? ? pic.twitter.com/a3f6x4zbEa
— Pirates (@Pirates) May 23, 2019
His home run total tied for the big league lead, and he ranked within the top five in average (.390), on-base percentage (.442), slugging (.797) and OPS (1.238). Bell’s 94 total bases set a Pirates record for any month and were the most produced by any hitter in May since Willie Mays recorded 102 in 1958.
Speaking of joining elite company, Bell became the third player in NL history with at least 12 doubles and 12 homers in any month, joining Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson (both in July, 1961).
Bell’s 24 extra-base hits also tied another Paul Waner for the franchise record in a month. Mays, Aaron, Robinson and Waner are in the Hall of Fame.
For the season, Bell leads MLB with 41 extra-base hits, and his average exit velocity of 94.6 mph on balls is second to the Texas Rangers’ Joey Gallo.
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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