MVP: The Fall of Bellinger and Yelich 

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Update as of August 3rd 2023: Both players have rebounded and are having excellent 2023 seasons. And THAT'S Baseball

Belli's swing is like Tim Lincicum's delivery. It's beautiful, explosive and violent. But as soon as any injury creeps into those mechanics, they fall apart.

The "415 to right field" then cutting to Yelich grounding into a double play made me laugh more than I should have

Yelich, from August 2018 to August 2019, was unlike anything we'd seen in a long time. He literally carried the Brewers to the playoffs in 2018 with numbers similar to Carl Yastrzemski's famous run to close the 1967 season, and he had a 154-game stretch during those two seasons where he was putting up hitting numbers similar to Babe Ruth's 1921 season, considered arguably THE GREATEST offensive season ever.

I really hope both of them come back and have solid careers

This video has aged worse than my parents marriage

hoping we can see an update on this since they’re both awesome in 2023

2019 was such an insane season that I feel it skewed our opinions on so many players. Now that the offense has died out a bit we can start to see the guys who might have had some inflated numbers

I actually remember seeing something about how yelich actually had a 2022 season very similar to his young Miami self. Contact with hard hits and not as many homers. I hope he makes a comeback because he was fun to watch when he was tearing the league up.

Another great one, man. Not sure if Bellinger will be good for the Cubs, but I certainly hope for a Yelich' renaissance. Cheers to every baseball fan 🍻🍻

I watched Yelich come to Milwaukee and almost immediately go on a historic tear where he was damn near unstoppable for almost 2 full seasons. Even seeing it in person, it was hard to believe how good he was. Then he fouled one off his kneecap in Miami and it was like the spell was broken. Still a solid player but not remotely the same. Seeing such drastically different versions of the same player, with no in between, has been jarring. I still half expect him to break out at any moment which is kind of dumb. Its been 3 years. I almost feel bad for this multimillionaire athlete.

Cooking popcorn as we speak.

Thank you for mentioning the Tieran article. No one ever talks about the fibula injury he suffered in Oakland. The article's main premise is that Bellinger basically got into bad habits at the plate to compensate for all the pain he was feeling in that area, which I believe is a very sound theory. Once someone starts practicing these "comfort" habits, it's very difficult to stop. Bellinger's swing mechanics were always a bit of a wild card. His swing is made up of so many moving parts that we Dodger fans knew (even before 2021) when even just one part of his swing was off, it could make him look like the worst hitter in baseball. When he was on however, we all knew what he was capable of. A lot of people point to 2019 and how he was supposedly so "bad" in the second half, but come on, do you honestly expect him to hit .431 and put up a 1.398 OPS for the entire year? That's just ridiculous. His lowest OPS came in September when he had an .891 OPS, which is still a top 10 hitter in the game. He had a .917 OPS in the second half, which again, still top 10. He kept his strikeouts in check every month as well as posting high walk totals to go along with it, and never stopped hitting for power. I'll take that hitter 10/10 times. I think a big part of it too, like the mechanical, is the mental side of things as well. I remember when he went into Spring Training 2.0 in 2020, he had a new swing and was talking about wanting to be better than his 2019 finish. And I remember thinking, "Why?" He had a good thing going, and if ain't broke, why fix it? That swing had a bit of a hitch as he separated his right shoulder from his left, and he would eventually abandon it after the first few weeks. But he was always tinkering, and I believe part of it was because he started to believe the media and misguided fans saying he was so terrible in the second half of 2019. Fast forward three years later, and he's still trying to recapture that 1st half 2019. And I honestly think that's just never going to be attainable anymore. Belli should take a hard look in the mirror and realize the present player he is today, and work off of that. I believe there's still at least decent potential with the bat, and there were always reports of him working hard in the cage at Dodger Stadium, even this past November, when let's face it, everyone knew he'd be non-tendered and he didn't have to. He's been equally one of my most frustrating players to watch, yet also one of my most favorite, because of the work ethic. I believe in Chicago, a team that isn't expected to compete to the level of the Dodgers in 2023, he'll have the free range to really find himself. If he can get that OPS to even the .750-.775 range, he's an all-star with that defense and that base running. Hopefully, we do get to see him in Seattle next year at the midsummer's classic

As someone who has had a lot of injuries in my life it is very hard to come back from some of them and regain that carefree feeling you used to have before you got hurt cause its always in the back of your mind..

Man this is really informative, peak sports journalism, mainstream sports channels have nothing on you.

Unrelated but i love how you threw in the GTA 4 theme in the background, felt like I was going through my childhood again Edit: and Mario Sluggers too!

Rooting for them both!! Good vid!!

Great video, great content! Top notch stuff…big days are ahead for your channel.

Hope to see your channel blow up soon. Quality content, keep up the grind

Bro the animations and editing on this video is top tier holy shit🔥🔥🔥

Nah the Mario super sluggers theme being used was a MAJOR throwback. Such a good game, imma fire up the Wii this weekend

Enjoyed ur content. I appreciate the music u included in the background, good addition 👍

I was teammates with Christian yelich in HS at Westlake in Thousand Oaks ca and man dude was a stud from day 1 freshman yr and one of the best guys u can know. Sucks to see the digression in his game but still serviceable. I’ve had conversations with him about his game he still got it just gotta keep grinding. Yelich is someone who can find it again

Fantastic analysis. Great work.

first video i’ve seen from this channel, and i’ve got a new favorite baseball youtuber. awesome commentary, great graphics, impeccable music taste. keep it up bro

How do you not have more subs? Stellar baseball content during a the time of year its needed most.

Very good video!! Can see how hard you work bro keep it up

Great vid, man. Those subs will come. Great stuff!

Great video. Very informative 😎

I loved the music choices in the video. and the way you synced his stats and swings to the beat at 5:25 was cool

Came back to this to celebrate (hopefully not too early) bellinger having a really good comeback year with the cubs. I hope he can keep it up and yelich can get some higher launch angles.

Solid Channel, keep it up man

A big fan of Yelich’s game since his marlins days. I feel like that freak injury really derailed his career a bit. I wouldn’t count out either of them from bouncing back

As a Brewers fan I know many fans still love Yelich, I still root for the guy, but I always tell people, I just want to see 2018 Yelich again

I will always love Cody. Wish him well. It was a good run in Dodger blue

This is a fantastic video.

These are great videos. Thanks.

It would be awesome if Cody and CY had bounce back seasons since they’re both in the NL Central now it would be fun watching them go toe to toe all summer.

I’ve seen plenty of content creators with sponsors but this has to be the best job of advertising I’ve seen from a creator

Great video, kept me from playing Zelda for 20 minutes which shows how interesting the video was

This is a great video. You should have more than 15k subs

And now the both of them are having comeback seasons. Belli is currently hitting .298 with 8 HRs atm

Jesus man I hope you're right. Those couple years with Yelich at his peak were special here in Milwaukee. Will never forget a playoff game versus the Rockies I attended where Yelich homered, thunderous MVP chants, the yellow towels swinging. Brewers end dup winning on a walkout single. That was awesome. Unfortunately I don't think I'll see such a special baseball moment again.

The background music is so good

That ad read had the right amount of cheesy baseball facts. I also think that Yelich's batting approach was catered perfectly to the juiced ball, and he maximized effectiveness with it.

imagine if boras had allowed bellinger to accept a long term extension early in his career. better yet … imagine if yelich had hired boras and chosen to bet on himself and wait out until free agency 😬

man i really want to see them succeed. I miss that 2019 mvp race

Part of my hope as a Brewer supporter is that Jesse Winker awakes in Yelich The Edge that has been missing since Ryan Braun left. Got to get a little nasty sometimes to reawaken the Beast. Ironic that you mention 2011. And no I do not think Yeli was juicing. Great video!

Love the graphs. I don't know baseball. I know random names but you did a good job explaining something I wouldn't really know

Dude you did the best sponsor ad I’ve seen in a RU-vid video

What a great video!

As a Cubs fan I’m excited to see what Belli can do. I think he’s got a lot more gas in his tank. He’s still pretty young.

Thank you for using the Donkey Kong background music towards the end.

belli is my favorite player and i believe he will always be. i hope he has an amazing year and finds away back to the dodgers

“Let’s start with 415 to right fiel- GROUND BALL TO SECOND” 😂😂😂 did yelich dirty with that edit bruh I’m dead

The Wario City theme from Mario Super Sluggers was a nice addition

4:08 you’re a legend for including Mario Super Sluggers music in here a true man of culture

As a Cubs fan, I hope Cody can be even 75% of the players he was in that stretch with the Dodgers. He'd be the steal of the century for my Cubs.

this is a great video

Great background music. W

Great job on this video. Haven’t seen your channel before but I’m impressed with your research and presentation. You definitely need more subscribers. Happy trails.

Nice vid bro. Subbed

Great video

if i had to choose a favorite player from any era it’s prime yeli that swing was too sweet

This video is somewhat funny in hindsight considering they are both having fairly resurgent years at the plate

The song in the beginning of this video brings back good memories. I miss GTA 4

Great video bro, if I could offer you one suggestion the music is a tad jarring for the style of video you're going for. @3.10-3.34 is an example. You don't really want to notice it but you want to know it's there, something atmospheric that sets the tone or vibe. Jon Bois is such a great creator and you can see his influence in your video. Check out some of the songs he uses in his 'Pretty Good' series, I reckon that will vastly improve your videos. Keep up the good work though bro

Banger

FANTASTIC content‼️🥳🏆🎩⚾👍

the background music in this video is elite

I don’t know the full details behind Correa’s failed physicals, but seeing these sharp declines following injuries puts his Free Agency debacle in a new perspective for me. I never realized how much an injury could affect someone’s career in the long term based on swing mechanics and offensive aggressiveness. Giants and Mets must suspect something with Carlos that we’ll see develop over the next few seasons.

Belli and Yelli both having solid seasons so far in 2023

GTA 4 soundtrack in the back was such a great pick 😭😭😭🐐

9:23 might be one of your best edits to date

Liberty City soundtrack to kick off was sweet.

You officially have the best baseball content on RU-vid

As a A’s fan I missed watching them homer practically every night, also I just miss 2018-2019 as a whole.

Getting that nostalgia of GTA4 when heard the music played here at the beginning of the vid

The brewers GM used to be assistant GM in Houston under luhnow.. yelich gets traded to MIL and randomly becomes Mike trout.. the bellinger case is a little different since he had already been good since he came up and their was some injury stuff that happened. Also the rest of his teammates didn’t fall off. I think if anyone was cheating it was yelich and I’d been saying this for years

To me, JV was right when he said they were great due to juiced baseballs, minus the injuries. Sure they’re good players, potentially great but that had something to do with their numbers in 2018-2019, etc. You literally just don’t see guys fall off like this unless it’s something like that. I really hope they both have comebacks, especially Bellinger playing in Wrigley.

this guy is the most underrated person on youtube

Fire intro

Donkey Kong music @4:35 just brings back so many memories 🎮

another banga

As long as they both find ways to be consistent at this point, I'll be happy with that.

They’re both having really good years this year!

Yelich and Bellinger having a comeback season this year

Pretty good 🐐

That GTA intro had me sub right away 🤙

There have been hundreds of these types of “collapse” stories throughout baseball history. That’s why I’m shocked that baseball executives are eager and willing to give out these 10-13 year 300-400 million dollar contracts.

Dude that Aura plug Matt Kemp analogy was legit.

Even though Yelich hasn’t been the same he still has been an above average hitter and he could still bounce back.

I still loved Belli even during his down season wish the Dodgers could’ve kept him but wish him the best with cubs maybe he’ll bounce back

Don’t look now but this video hasn’t aged well Cody is doing amazing in Chicago maybe a change of scenery was what he needed

Who’s here when Belli cooking with the cubs

Bellinger's precipitous fall is just so perplexing in so many way. Yelich's peripheral at least indicates that he's a quality hitter both in plate discipline and contact quality. Bellinger's defensive numbers suggest that at least physically, he is suffering no ill effects of his injuries. He still throws hard and runs great. Having both contact quality and plate discipline decline so much from an elite level at the same time is so unusual. High level players tends to maintain one or the other even in their down year

Love the Donkey Kong Country background music

Let’s appreciate the great music in this vid bro went from Super Sluggers to Trippie to Kanye

Belli gonna come back strong 💪🏼