Los Angeles Dodgers: The massive impacts of getting Corey Seager back

1. Cody Bellinger is going to get more reasonable opportunities to produce runs

Cody Bellinger having a sophomore slump in 2018 was something that most fans predicted would happen. Bellinger literally had a historical rookie season in 2017 and there was no way that he would be better with opposing pitchers having film on him.

Bellinger did have that regression, although it was not as bad as it could have been. Slugging 25 home runs with a .343 on-base percentage is not bad, after all.

It was his power numbers and run producing that took a hit as Bellinger slugged 14 fewer home runs and drove in 21 fewer runs despite having 84 more plate appearances. A large part of this is because of how often Bellinger was at the plate with two outs.

Most of Bellinger’s plate appearances came with two outs. Of his 632 plate appearances, 35.8 percent were with two outs, 33.9 percent were with one out and 30.4 percent were with zero outs.

That does seem like a fairly even split but he still saw more plate appearances with two outs than with one or zero outs. Having Seager back in the lineup, and assuming that Bellinger hits fourth or fifth, will create more opportunities for Bellinger with one or fewer outs, which will lead to more run-driving opportunities that do not require a base hit.