WATCH: Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger sets MLB record for fastest to 20-plus homers
It took Wally Berger and Gary Sanchez 51 career games to get to 20 home runs. Bellinger joined them Monday
By
Matt Snyder
•
1 min read
Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger has been torching the rest of baseball since being called up early in the year and he hasn't slowed down, at least not in the power department.
On Monday, Bellinger stepped to the plate in the first inning of his 51st career game. He would hit his 20th home run:
20 homers in 51 career games?
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) June 20, 2017
Wally Berger@ElGarySanchez
And now ⦠@Cody_Bellinger. https://t.co/Y2DkWiqeI4pic.twitter.com/xgRBx2QUqC
The fastest to 20 homers in a career, you ask? Why, it's 51 games. Bellinger ties Wally Berger (1930) and Gary Sanchez (2016) in getting there that quickly.
How about the oddity of seeing it twice less than a year after Berger's record stood since 1930? That's fun. Sure, it's a bit of an arbitrary stat, but it's not too far out there.
This doesn't change anything on the "fastest to 20 HR" front, but Bellinger homered again on his second at-bat.
Through that second at-bat on Monday, Bellinger had 21 homers in 190 at-bats while slashing .268/.340/.663 on the season. He has 47 RBI and it's still the third inning of his 51st game.
It's not hyperbole to say we're seeing a historic start to a career.
