Generally speaking, spring training numbers don't mean anything. There is so much noise -- a hitter could face a Cy Young winner in his first at-bat and a kid ticketed for Single-A in his second -- and the sample is so small that it's hard to believe anything. That is especially true this year, with the shortened exhibition schedule. Spring training is full of lies.
Except sometimes spring training does tell us the truth, or at least offer little nuggets of truth. Read between the lines and you can pick up on trends and see things that actually mean something during spring play. A pitcher with a viable new pitch or a hitter with a new bat path are the kinds of things we can see in camp that can change a player's outlook. With that in mind, here are four spring training trends worth knowing.
Last season was an ugly, worst-case scenario kind of season for Bellinger. His 2021 numbers seem to get worse every time I look at them: .165/.240/.302 in 350 plate appearances. Hard to believe it was the same player who was so dominant en route to the NL MVP award in 2019. Bellinger looked completely lost at the plate last year.
The good news: it's a new year and Bellinger has a clean slate. The bad news: Bellinger's spring looks a lot like his 2021. He is 4 for 27 (.148) with 17 strikeouts. Bellinger has struck out only ("only") three times in his last eight at-bats after striking out 14 times in his first 19 at-bats, so ... progress? Swings like this make me go
