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.
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.
Former MLB player Fred McGriff played in the league for 19 years and enjoyed a successful, yet harshly underrated career.
Throughout his career, he won multiple individual awards, while making a deep impact on every team he played for. He also developed a nickname during his time in the league. “The Crime Dog” would stick with him for the rest of his career.
McGriff initially signed with the New York Yankees after the team selected him in the ninth round of the 1981 MLB Draft. The next year he was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays, and four years later, he would make his MLB debut with the Blue Jays.
He spent his first five MLB seasons with the Blue Jays and hit a respectable .278 during those years. In 1989, McGriff won his first Silver Slugger award batting .269 with 36 home runs and 92 RBIs.
Following his time up north he was traded to the San Diego Padres. In his second season with the Padres, he was named to his first All-Star team and won his second Silver Slugger award. McGriff continued to take his game to the next level. During the middle of his career, he joined his third team, the Atlanta Braves. The slugging first baseman joined a talented roster, that would go onto have a lot of success.
During the 1994 season, McGriff made his second all-star team, and he finished the season batting .318 while hitting 34 home runs. The next season the Braves won the 1995 World Series. McGriff hit .261 with two home runs and three RBIs in six games against the Cleveland Indians,
McGriff was a player that many people knew across the league. During the 1990s and 2000s, he appeared in multiple baseball instructional videos, which would get a lot of viewers. He teamed up with Tom Emanski a baseball coach who did a lot of instructional videos and lessons for players, to make those videos. McGriff and Emanski had a relationship before he made it to the majors, as Emanski helped the “Crime Dog” become just that by helping him with his swing early in his baseball career. Safe to say it paid off.
During those years McGriff had a lot of success, as he was good in the field and with his bat. He was already a World Series champion and had made numerous All-Star appearances. So seeing McGriff in those videos attracted a ton of positive feedback and attention.
As far as how the “Crime Dog” name came about?
ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman gave McGriff the nickname, as McGriff’s last name is similar to “McGruff “The Crime Dog’s name. McGruff was an animated dog that helped increase crime awareness and personal safety.
It was fitting that Berman gave McGriff that nickname because of his last name and it stuck with lanky power-hiter the rest of his underrated career.
He finished his career with a .284 batting average, 2,490 hits, 493 home runs, and 1,550 RBIs. Many believe he needed those seven more home runs to reach the magic number of 500 and have a real shot at making it to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. But if guys like Jim Thome and Jeff Bagwell and Harold Baines are in the Hall, then McGriff’s omission is…well a Crime… Dawgs
David Grubb goes first to third, highlighting Cleveland Indians rookie first baseman and MLBbro Bobby Bradley, who is scorching the ball and could make a major impact on the AL Central division race with his power bat.
The baseball world has been waiting for Josh Bell to bust out of his funk and return to his 30-plus homer-hitting self. It looks like the Washington Nationals slugger has found his groove the past week and his vicious stick has earned him a Home Boi Highlights shoutout from Rob Parker.
The Boston Red Sox franchise is known for popular personalities as a staple over the years, and “The Hit Dog” aka Mo Vaughn reigned supreme in the mid-1990s.
The Red Sox and left-handed hitters have been joined at the hip for years. From Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth (a pitcher who belted 49 homers while in Beantown) to Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski to Fred Lynn. Wade Boggs and Mike Greenwell were southpaw forces as well, but none of them brought the power and wallop that the compact, 6-1, 275-pound rocket launcher did.
The power-hitting Vaughn spent eight seasons at first base for the Red Sox and in the process, he had 230 home runs and 753 RBI’s during his career. While also batting .304 and accumulating 199 doubles.
Vaughn finished his career with 328 home runs while playing for three franchises over 12 seasons. He also finished with a .293 career batting average and 1064 career RBI’s.
The pressure to win in Boston and end the “Curse of the Bambino” fell heavily on multiple players in the 90s, with Vaughn being one of them. Vaughn put up All-Star numbers but wasn’t able to shatter the curse as he and the Red Sox only made two playoff appearances during his tenure.
Through his first couple seasons beginning in 1991, he was productive in spots. The third season is where the light really came on and he drove in 101 runs. But 1995-98 is when Vaughn really took off as a complete hitter.
He was named an All-Star three times during this span and even took home the AL MVP in 1995. Vaughn went yard 39 times, while driving in 126 runs, beating out Albert Belle and Edgar Martinez for his first and only MVP.
He only got better in 1996, and although the Red Sox missed the postseason his numbers were better than his MVP year prior. He hit 44 home runs and drove in 143 runs while batting a sizzling .346 at the plate. Despite this incredible season, he finished fifth in the MVP race. Vaughn also finished fourth in the 1998 MVP voting.
Boston might’ve been more successful during Vaughn’s years if not for their arch-nemesis New York Yankees returning to power those same exact years. A lot of the reason behind Boston’s just two playoff appearances stem from their division rival being so good as well.
Both playoff appearances ended in lopsided losses to the Uber-talented Cleveland Indians. Vaughn went a forgettable 0-14 in the 1995 playoff series. He fared much better in the 1998 series loss going 7-17 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI’s.
Consistency was always the strength of Vaughn’s game, albeit hitting for average or power, his bat was a formidable one for the Red Sox. He has 16-game hitting streaks in both 1995 and 1998. His 6 RBI game against the Royals in 1995 is still memorable. Or how bout his 3 home run day against the hated Yankees in 1997. Even with the 1998 season being his final one in Boston he started it off with a walk-off grand slam on opening day against the Mariners.
Vaughn had some run-ins with management, coupled with some off-the-field trouble and several run-ins with the media helped usher Vaughn out of “Beantown” in free agency after the 1998 season.
But prior to leaving, Big Mo spent almost a decade as a fan fave, while helping to keep those Red Sox teams competitive in a tough AL East where Derek Jeter and Joe Torre’s Yankees Dynasty was in full swing.
He was named to the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2008 and became eligible for Cooperstown in 2009. He only received a paltry 1.1 percent of the votes, meaning he’d no longer be eligible for possible induction.
Despite the ups and downs, including his non-graceful exit from Boston, he’ll always be considered a franchise great. He is easily one of the top-ten-left-handed hitters in Boston Red Sox franchise history.
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