Josh Bell’s Bat Has Transformed From Walking Dead Into Live Wire

The 2021 season did not kick off as Josh Bell envisioned.

The power-swinging lefty joined the Washington Nationals during the offseason and was ready to make an immediate impact in his first year in the nation’s capital. COVID protocol delayed his arrival and disrupted his MLBbro flow, so he’s just now gaining some consistency at the plate. 

It’s safe to say that Bell has shown significant improvement in the month of June after struggling at the start of the season.

He recently tied his longest hitting streak of the season (six games), which ended on June 28th.

During that hitting streak he went 7-for-23 with eight RBI and two home runs. This is the player that the Nationals have been waiting to see and a big reason why they sought out to acquire him. It’s no question that Bell knows how to hit. There is a lot of power in that 6-foot-4 255 pound frame of his. 

 

 

The 28-year-old has been seeing the ball pretty well this month. Earlier this month, Bell had his first six-game hitting streak. He had a total of seven hits during the streak. 

Recently, Bell had a clutch performance for the Nationals as he hit a grand slam against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 23rd. 

 

 

That was the game he needed.

Nationals manager, Davey Martinez was filled with emotions after witnessing that performance from Bell.

“Big home run by J. Bell. That was huge. Two strikes, being able to stay on the ball, hit it the other way, that was big,” Martinez told Yahoo Sports. “To me, that was the moment right there I told myself, ‘That made him a National right there.’ That really did make him a National. Hopefully, he keeps it going.”

“You watch this guy every day work the way he works, how passionate he is about our club and the team,” Martinez said. “It was awesome to see him come through like that.”

As you can see, Martinez is high on Bell and has a lot of confidence in him, especially at the plate.  Bell believes that moment was a turning point. 

“I’ve put in a lot of work with [hitting coach Kevin] Long, it seems like things are starting to turn around for me,” Bell said. “Hopefully, that’s one of quite a few moments I have with the Nationals.”

Our MLBbro is hitting .226 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI through 61 games. Don’t let that batting average fool you, Bell can hit bombs in bunches and he makes his hits count. 

Despite struggling out the gate, he’s making the necessary adjustments. If Bell can perform like he did in 2019 with the Pirates, where he hit 37 home runs, then he will be a problem for sure in the National League.

Keep an eye out for this brother throughout the season. He’s really just heating up for his new squad.