How Josh Bell revived his season and potentially saved his career

After a miserable start to his second stint with the Washington Nationals, Josh Bell has recaptured some of his old glory

In April this would have sounded nearly impossible, but Josh Bell is one of the Washington Nationals best hitters, and has been for a little while now. After a miserable start to the season, where most wanted the DH gone, Bell has turned his season around.

Since May 1st, Josh Bell has been everything he was supposed to be since he signed a 1-year $6 million contract to return to DC. Bell is hitting .268 with a .354 on base percentage and a .793 OPS since the start of May. That is 2.5 months of very good play and it could make him a viable trade chip. Bell has been surging lately, with an .866 OPS over his last 30 contests.

The horrific start means his season numbers are still slightly below average, but when you look under the hood, this is the best Josh Bell has been in a while. His strikeout and walk rates are the best they have been since 2022. Bell also has the highest hard hit rate since the 2021 season. All his batted ball data suggests that this recent run is no fluke and that he can keep this up as long as he doesn’t fall into one of his patented slumps.

So how did this happen? How did a guy who was one of the worst hitters in baseball the first month of the season turn his year around? Well, we got some of the answers in an article by Mark Zuckerman today.

When he was signed, Bell emphasized that he wanted to be a slugger. The 6’3 261 pound behemoth was clearly unhappy that he hit under 20 homers in 2024 and wanted to slug. However, despite his monster size, Bell has never really been a three true outcome slugger.

Bell has plenty of power, but has never been an all or nothing power hitter. He has only hit over 30 bombs once in his career. At his core, Bell is a guy who likes to spray the ball around the yard and because of his strength the power will come with that.

Since May, Bell has gotten back to that way of hitting and it has worked for him. He isn’t hunting for power at all costs and it has allowed him to get back to his game. Bell has not been the only Nat to fall victim to that power first approach.

That same strategy has also hurt Nathaniel Lowe’s game. While the Nats first baseman has been hitting more homers this year, it has come at the expense of his all around game. He is not walking as much and isn’t hitting for much average. Hopefully Lowe can find a way to make that same adjustment.

However, by going back to his roots, Josh Bell has rediscovered his stroke. While getting guys to focus on lifting the ball is a good idea on paper, it does not work for everybody. Some guys are not going to be optimized by hunting for power, and Josh Bell is one of those guys.

There is no one size fits all approach to hitting. Each player has things they excel at. For a guy like CJ Abrams, he is at his best when he is pulling the ball, whether that is yanking doubles down the line, or lifting home runs. However, that does not work for everyone.

It is good to see Josh Bell have success. Everyone in DC knows how amazing Josh Bell the person is. It is nice to see Josh Bell the player have a big impact on this club as well.