BIG NEWS FOR BYB FRIENDS, THE BELLINGERS!

Just a quick note to pass along in this last full week of April baseball....because you can never have enough good news, right?

Photo: USA Today Sports / Picture of Cody Bellinger

Early in 2016 I was fortunate enough to meet Clay Bellinger. We talked about his time with the Yankees and his life now as a firefighter in the town I live in, you can read that in BYB's EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CLAY BELLINGER.

I could tell how much he really enjoyed his time with the Yankees but the part that he loved talking about the most was definitely his son Cody Bellinger. Last year Cody was working his way quickly through the Dodger's minor league system, and now Cody has finally been called up and Clay is definitely a proud dad!

Cody is considered to be the Dodger's top prospect and future first baseman, but his versatility, talent and experience in the outfield makes him an even bigger reason why he is so important to the Dodgers. Right now the Dodgers have a lot of holes in their outfield to fill. Center fielder Joc Pederson is on the disabled list with a strained right groin and left fielder Franklin Gutierrez is on the DL with a left hamstring strain. Infielder Logan Forsythe is also sidelined by a broken right big toe....and that opens the door for Cody.

After a brief interview with Fox Sports HERE, it sounds like Cody was surprised to get the call but we aren't. Cody has progressed quickly through the system thanks to his hard work and recognizing his own areas of improvement, like changing his swing that Clay talked to us about last year. The season is till young but he has a .343BA with five home runs, four doubles, 15 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 18 games at Triple-A this year. He is also among the Pacific Coast League leaders in several offensive categories. Numbers like those are how you get a quick call up

Once the Dodgers get some of their regulars healthy again they are likely to send Cody back down....but I bet money he will be back up again this season. We did text message Clay Bellinger Tuesday night assuming the proud dad had to be in San Francisco for his son's big debut and sure enough, we got a text back thanking us and shortly after MLB Network had a quick story on Cody and we spotted the Bellinger family in the stands. What a cool moment!

Bellinger may not be a Yankee, but he and his whole family are now part of the BYB family and if you read us regularly you know how important that is to us. This isn't just a blog about baseball, it is much bigger than that. It's cool witnessing people that you meet in life achieve big things. So a big congratulations goes out to Cody and the Bellinger family! We look forward to watching you continue to do big things.

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Follow me on Twitter: @NYPrincessJ