Cody Bellinger is about to face live pitching

Cody Bellinger is expected to swing a bat against live pitching either Wednesday or Thursday, his next step after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Bellinger has been limited to defensive drills and tracking pitches but not swinging thus far in spring training, at least not against pitching. Bellinger had surgery on November 17 to stabilize his right shoulder that he’s dislocated on multiple occasions, including after celebrating his pennant-winning home run in Game 7 of the NLCS.

The timetable remains the same for Bellinger that it was at the beginning of camp, that he will likely see his first Cactus League game by next week.

“In about a week, something like that, the 14th or 15th, we’re expecting to see him in a major league baseball game,” said Dave Roberts, who noted that Bellinger would likely split time between designated hitter and center field in his first few spring games.

Links

• The “PECOTA hates your team” series continues at Baseball Prospectus, with Patrick Dubuque writing about the Dodgers, who are projected by that system for an eye-popping 104 wins. This nugget was interesting: “The Dodgers have six starters who are projected to post a DRC+ of 124 or above, or 25 percent better than the average hitter. The rest of the NL West, combined, has three.”
• Andrew Maraniss at Baseball Prospectus shared an excerpt from his book ‘Singled Out,’ about former Dodgers outfielder Glenn Burke, the first openly gay player in major league history.
• Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs wrote about the Dodgers rotation depth being a hallmark in recent years, and that despite ranking 14th in MLB in starter innings since 2016 the rotation ranks third in fWAR.
• Chris Taylor is hosting a “Home Run for Hope” virtual concert on March 26, supporting kids fighting cancer.
• Coors Field, where the Dodgers open the regular season with a four-game series from April 1-4, was approved by the state of Colorado for 21,363 fans, which is 42.6 percent of capacity. “Having opening day, having fans in the stands is exciting, regardless if they’re cheering for or against us,” Roberts said Tuesday.
• Following the lead on Dave Roberts decrying violence and racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders earlier this week, the Dodgers released a statement on Tuesday: “This bigotry and hatred has no place in our society and to be clear, the Dodger organization condemns this widespread xenophobic violence and intolerance. Such bullying is nothing short of cowardice.” You can read the entire statement here.