Dodgers: Comparing the Rosters of the Astros and Dodgers

First Base: Yuli Gurriel vs. Cody Bellinger

For those not familiar with the international free-agent market, Gurriel was amongst one of the most sought after talents after his defection from his native Cuba. The only problem was he defected a bit too late for anybody to take a huge risk. He is already 33 years of age and is playing in just his second season and his first as an everyday starter.

Gurriel stormed onto the radar of big league teams like many Cuban superstars do; through the World Baseball Classic. His flare and tools had teams chomping at the bit of having him on their roster. Teams spent years waiting for him to flee Cuba. He finally did and was in the bigs almost immediately. Now he is making an excellent contribution to a playoff team.

Cody Bellinger is now the starting first-baseman for the Dodgers. We’ve all heard the story, the Dodgers were struggling, and as soon as the rookie got called-up, the Dodgers went on a flurry. So there is no need for me to tell you how great of a player he is, but I’m going to tell you anyway because he is just so darn great.

Cody Bellinger is currently 3rd in the MLB in slugging percentage and 5^th place of all the MLB with 26 home-runs despite missing the first three of weeks of the season. As predicted, he’s playing a remarkable first-base and, wait for it……just turned 22 years-old, and will only continue to get better.

Verdict

Despite how great Gurriel may have been 3-5 years ago, he is just not the same player and does not possess the tools that a younger Cody Bellinger has. He is an overlooked piece on the Astros, but he is important to the team’s success.

At this point, Cody is just flat out better than Gurriel at almost every facet of the game. Not to mention the fact that Cody somehow gets better when the game is on the line which makes his importance to the Dodgers that much more significant. The Dodgers take this one with the young stud Bellinger.

Los Angeles Dodgers lead 1-0