Rangers manager Bruce Bochy paid Cubs’ Cody Bellinger every compliment in the book as the two teams met each other at the start of the season.
Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy and Chicago Cubs star outfielder Cody Bellinger are hardly friends. They could be considered, at best, mere acquaintances having crossed paths in California when Bochy coached the San Francisco Giants and Bellinger was on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now on different clubs yet again, Bochy spoke about Bellinger’s talents in the league ahead of the Rangers-Cubs game on Friday.
The Cubs ended up besting Texas with Bellinger driving in the winning run in the 2-0 victory, and Bochy and the Rangers got just a small taste of Bellinger’s potential for greatness.
Bochy said of the ex-Dodgers star:
“Well I’ll just say, I saw him a lot being in the same division. He’s a great player. Tremendous athlete, he can run, throw, really good first baseman. Really good outfielder. He can hit. He did a lot of damage against. I’ll leave it at that because I’ve been out for three years.”
Bochy also noted that Bellinger had “really special tools” that made him a fantastic pick-up for the Cubs back in December of 2022.
Rangers’ Bruce Bochy has the utmost respect for rival Cody Bellinger
Bellinger looked shaky in his first three games at Wrigley Field, going 0-for-11 with a walk and four strikeouts.
Yet that one-year contract is starting to look a lot sweeter on both Bellinger’s and Chicago’s side as he starts to play his way into a longer-term, lucrative extension and the Cubs get the most bang for their buck.
Since his ice-cold 0-for-11 start, Bellinger has hit a home run and five RBI in his last three games, perhaps signaling that things are looking up for the Cubs transplant.
For Chicago, who signed him on mere pennies in a $17.5 million deal, the club hopes to see Bellinger tap into his All-Star form from 2019, when he was slashing .305/.406/.629 and whacked 47 homers; so far this season, he just has the sole homer against the Rangers to show for his talents.
Based on Bochy’s assessment and his recent awakening, though, Bellinger could turn into another offensive dynamo on the Cubs to take the club deep into the postseason.