Remember how on July 1, we were still talking about Luis Arraez and the admittedly unlikely possibility that he would hit .400? Arraez, incredibly, was still hitting .400 on June 24, and going into July he was hitting .390, and it was wonderful because it was basically impossible. You can’t hit .400 now, no way, not with the proliferation of 100-mph relief pitchers and great defense (even if official scorers rarely give out errors), and you certainly can’t hit .400 when you don’t walk and put so many balls in play and don’t hit many home runs.
Still, it was fun to dream about as we entered July. Since July 1, Arraez is hitting .302, which obviously is not bad, but it has dropped his season average to a healthy-but-not-Ted Williams-challenging .358. This month he’s hitting just .237.
And it struck me that players who have a great first three months tend to get our attention in ways that players who get hot in the middle of the season do not. So I want to look at five players who have been scorching since July 1.
Cody Bellinger, Cubs
Going into July: .266/.329/.451 with 7 home runs, 10 steals.
Now: .322/.370/.556 with 20 homers and 17 steals.
Bellinger has been smoking hot, hitting .383 and slugging .671 over his last 44 games. He has transformed his season, and in many ways, he has transformed the Cubs’ season. Going into July, they were four games under .500 and in fourth place. Now, they’re six games over .500 and in second place, just 2½ games behind the Brewers.
It has already been some kind of career for Bellinger, right?