'I want to do more': Bellinger striving to start slugging again

CHICAGO -- Cody Bellinger plucked a few blades of grass in the first inning on Tuesday night and tossed them into the air. The Cubs' outfielder saw them swirl in all directions and knew it might just be one of those unpredictable nights at Wrigley Field.

“You never know here,” Bellinger said.

In the home half of the first, Bellinger ripped a cutter from Philadelphia rookie Michael Mercado high to right-center field, where the ball carried all the way to the warning track. Nick Castellanos ran down the deep fly in front of the bricks and ivy and Bellinger’s search for slugging percentage continued in a 6-4 loss to the National League-leading Phillies.

Bellinger notched a pair of hits in the loss -- delivering an RBI double in the third and adding a single to help spark a three-run ninth -- to offer some hope for the Cubs that the missing power is around the bend. In the meantime, Cubs manager Craig Counsell has recently described Bellinger as a “hit collector” amid his lagging slug.

“Look, you go through these things during the season,” Counsell said over the weekend. “He's going through a little phase where he's just not slugging right now. Swings go through that. I think we know that. Collecting hits when you're going through that is kind of what you need to do to keep production up. Overall, he's done a pretty good job of that.”

To Counsell’s point, Bellinger has collected at least one hit in all but four of his past 22 games, during which he has churned out nine multihit efforts. During that span, the veteran has hit at a .310 (27-for-87) clip to bring his season average up to .270 through 72 games. In that recent stretch, however, Bellinger has just one homer and a .361 slugging percentage.

The drop-off in power reached back to early May, when Bellinger was making his return from the injured list due to two fractured ribs in his right side. He belted two homers in his first three games off the shelf, but has two home runs in the 203 plate appearances since that point. His season SLG has plummeted to .421 from .536 in that span.

Per Statcast, Bellinger’s expected slugging percentage -- based on batted-ball metrics -- slipped to .306 in June. He had a .399 xSLG in May and a .464 xSLG in the season’s first month.

“Obviously, I’m well aware,” Bellinger said. “But for me, and probably most players, if you start chasing the slug, then it can go downhill pretty quick. That’s one thing you focus on. Something that I always strive to do is continue to stay within myself, obviously working towards the end goal. I’ll just continue sticking to my approach.”

Bellinger’s showing against the Phillies did look like a step forward.

The deep flyout in the first inning was 95.7 mph off the bat and would have been a home run in four ballparks, according to Statcast. In the third inning, Bellinger connected on a fastball from Mercado and sent it bouncing into the right-center-field gap with a 100.3 mph exit velocity. His pulled single in the ninth set up a three-run homer for Seiya Suzuki.

“He hit three balls really well,” Counsell said. “The first one just barely got in on him, just enough. But, yeah, a good day.”

The problem on this night was hardly Bellinger.

After the outfielder’s double in the third inning, Chicago’s offense went into an 0-for-16 lull leading up to the ninth inning. It felt eerily familiar to Sunday, when Bellinger singled in the first inning before the Cubs’ lineup limped to an 0-for-26 finish the rest of the game in Milwaukee.

“We’ve got to do more offensively,” Counsell said. “Too many easy innings today.”

The three-run burst in the ninth on Tuesday fit into the category of “small victories,” to borrow Bellinger’s postgame description. Right now, the Cubs need a string of actual victories to pull back into the playoff conversation and to convince the front office to add at the July 30 Trade Deadline.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer could also consider selling players, and Bellinger’s name would surely come up in that scenario. The outfielder’s contract complicates matters -- the three-year, $80 million deal includes an opt-out clause after the 2024 and ‘25 seasons -- but teams would undoubtedly still inquire.

“I’m definitely not going to think about it,” Bellinger said. “Just like everything, it’s a distraction to what you need to accomplish. So I won’t think about it. I’ll just take it day by day.”

That includes continuing to search for his power.

“I want to do more,” Bellinger said. “That’s what I strive to do. I feel like I can do way more.”