A shortened baseball season could be enticing to Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Josh Bell, who is coming off an All-Star season with career bests with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs.
MLB submitted to the players’ union a proposal with an 82-game schedule with regional matchups, which would pit the Pirates against teams from the AL Central and NL Central.
That brings about some good news-bad news scenarios.
• Good: Through the first 82 games last season, Bell slashed .308/.381/.654 with 57 extra-base hits – 29 doubles, three triples and 25 homers – and 77 RBIs. Those numbers were deserving of an NL MVP candidate.
• Bad: Bell’s 82nd game was perhaps his best of the season, as he went 4 for 6 with three homers, four runs and seven RBIs in an 18-5 win over the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Problem is, it was the Pirates’ 83rd game so it wouldn’t have counted in an 82-game regular season.
The Pirates' Josh Bell will compete in the Home Run Derby next Monday. He looks ready to me.
— Josh Kurelac (@JoshKurelac) July 2, 2019
Here's all 3 of Bell's dingers from tonight's 18-5 drubbing of the Cubs. pic.twitter.com/Tgtr5pHBEC
• Good: Bell’s best month last season was May, when he slashed .390/.442/.797 with 12 homers and 31 RBIs. It was a strong sign that he is capable of carrying the team over a stretch early in the season.
• Bad: One of Bell’s worst months last season was July, when he slashed .218/.320/.448 with five homers and 18 RBIs. That’s when this proposed season would start. Bell went almost five weeks between homers last year, from July 5 until Aug. 11.
• Good: Of Bell’s 37 home runs, 26 traveled 400 feet or longer. A switch-hitter who sprayed to all fields, Bell hit eight homers to both center and left field, six to right, five to right-center, four to left-center, four down the right-field line and two down the left-field line.
• Bad: Four of his homers to center would have fallen short of the 420-foot wall at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. It might be better for Bell to play against the AL East, where right-field walls at Fenway Park (302), Oriole Park (318) and Yankee Stadium (314) would have been inviting for his lefty power.
