Cody Bellinger’s ‘impressive’ MVP-level season is helping fuel the Chicago Cubs’ sudden surge in the NL Central

Cody Bellinger couldn’t help but notice how quickly the damage he created was fixed.

Within 30 minutes, he noted with a grin, the blackened-out panels on the right-field video board at Wrigley Field from his second-inning home run Tuesday night against the Cincinnati Reds had been fixed.

Bellinger joked “I was a little worried” the Chicago Cubs would send him the bill.

The start of a new month did not cool off Bellinger, who seemingly finds different ways to show on a regular basis how locked in he has been during an MVP-level performance this season.

Bellinger on Wednesday was named the National League player of the month for July after he became the seventh Cubs player — and first since Rick Wilkins in June 1993 — to hit at least .400 with eight or more home runs in a calendar month, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

“It was impressive,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “Left-handed hitters have such prettier swings than right-handed hitters, and when you watch it from that angle as soon as he hits it, it’s a movie.”

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Bellinger’s three-hit game Tuesday was part of a two-day offensive onslaught by the Cubs of the first-place Reds that pulled them within three games of the top of the NL Central. With Wednesday’s 16-6 victory, their 36 runs in a two-game span are the most since June 29-30, 1897 (43 runs), via team historian Ed Hartig, while their 12 home runs in a two-game span set a franchise record.

The Cubs became the first team to have 10 extra-base hits and five home runs in consecutive games in big-league history. Jeimer Candelario’s hot start in his return to Chicago continued with a four-hit night out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup, highlighting how deep and challenging the Cubs offense can be to navigate for an opposing pitching staff.

“If you’re not going to pitch to a guy or give him something to handle, the guys are willing to take their walks,” manager David Ross said. “That pass-the-baton type of mentality has been really impressive and then guys come up and get really big hits.”

Bellinger is a looming presence, especially since returning from his left knee injury June 15. He is one of four players in the majors this season with at least 15 home runs, 14 stolen bases and a .300 average, joining the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr., Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman and Houston Astros’ Kyle Tucker.

“I’m staying within myself and understanding the game and the approach,” Bellinger said. “It’s not an easy game, one of the hardest to play professionally, and understanding that and continuing to work with your strengths and work at it and continue to show up.”

There isn’t just one way, either, that Bellinger has been able to beat opposing pitchers. His two-strike approach and crushing of left-handers has helped create tough matchups. Bellinger’s athleticism and bat control also allow him to fight off pitches to let him look for something better to hit. His 19.4% foul-ball rate is 18th best in the NL.

It’s a valuable skill that highlights how much he has cleaned up his swing over the last two years.

“A lot of it has been his bat plane and how long he’s on the plane of the pitch,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly told the Tribune on Wednesday. “What that’s done is allow him to handle the ball at the top of the zone a little bit better, especially that four-seam fastball, and a lot of those balls that run up and away, he’s able to get enough barrel on it to foul it off and we’ve even seen him shoot it to the left side.”

Bellinger’s “step in the bucket” natural movement toward second base with his right front leg can create problems for hitters if they’re out of whack and open up too much. But his consistent ability to keep his chest and shoulders square to the pitcher creates a lot of torque and plate coverage with his swing.

“That’s where we see those balls that end up in the inner part of the zone that are a little bit up, he’s stored so much energy that it released like a whip,” Kelly said. “But him staying square a little bit longer allows him to shoot the ball the other way, so it’s the perfect mix.”

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Bellinger likes to say he keeps his approach simple, and yet that phrasing undersells the work he has put in and the technical ability behind what he does at the plate. When game planning for pitchers, Kelly said Bellinger possesses a unique skill in being able to pick up their release point and then keeping a certain pitch he’s targeting within a window. The longer it stays in that window, Bellinger is able to adjust and shut his swing down as it comes through because of his early pitch recognition.

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When a game situation calls for it, like a two-strike count and needing to put the ball in play with runners on base, Bellinger’s bat-to-ball skills let him stay on and through a pitch.

“He does an incredible job game planning,” Kelly said. “He’s so diligent and stubborn about what he’s looking for and where it’s going to start and end up.”

Bellinger, who turned 28 last month, is setting himself up for a big offseason payday when his $25 million mutual option eventually is declined for a $5 million buyout. Some advanced metrics show a decline from last year, specifically his average exit velocity (87.1 mph), which ranks in the 18th percentile, launch angle (17.4 degrees) and barrel rate (6.4%), which sits in the 33rd percentile.

Beyond his punishing home runs and doubles, this combination has led to balls falling right in front of an outfielder or through a hole up the middle. Rather than be concerned by that data, Kelly believes those batted-ball numbers tell a different story.

“Getting hits in the big leagues, there is some luck behind it, but there’s also a skill that he has to be able to stay on pitches and put balls in play and keep them in a really good launch spot,” Kelly said.

“He has a skill that not a lot of players have, and if you were to go ask 99% of these guys do they want that skill, every single one of them, no matter how hard they hit the ball or what their barrel rate is, if they had the skill Cody has to be able to get the barrel to the ball in deeper counts or when he’s behind, I think they would all say yes.”