Dodgers star Cody Bellinger was starstruck meeting Kobe Bryant

Los Angeles Dodgers star Cody Bellinger discussed his feelings when meeting Kobe Bryant during the 2018 playoffs.

Dodgers superstar Cody Bellinger has enjoyed his share of fame since winning the Rookie of the Year Award with the Dodgers in 2017. The 24-year-old Scottsdale native has developed into the best player on one of Major League Baseball’s best teams. It’s only a matter of time before he is a household name across America.

As a confident ballplayer with a humble personality, Bellinger is able to appreciate the magnitude of events without allowing pressure to creep into his performance. However, there was one situation, off the field, when he found himself completely speechless, and that was when he met Kobe Bryant for the first time.

“The coolest person I met was Kobe Bryant,” Bellinger said on The Darren Woodson Show earlier this week. “Met him in ’18 against Milwaukee in the playoffs, I was in the video room, he came in, he introduced himself. And I was literally speechless, like, I felt like I literally couldn’t get the words out. It was weird, man, I was like, I have never been starstruck, ever. And I saw Kobe and I was like ‘Whoa,’ this is crazy, man … Super nice guy, took a picture with him. And, you know, it wasn’t much, but just meeting him was absolutely ridiculous.”

It still hurts to type the words, but Bryant tragically died in a helicopter crash in January, just one day after sending Bellinger a congratulatory video message for winning the National League MVP Award.

Bellinger said he watched the video “like six times” on his way to dinner on the night it was posted to the Dodgers social media account. Upon learning the tragic news about Bryant the next day, Bellinger said, “Then on Sunday, found out about the news on the plane coming to L.A. and I didn’t believe it. It was crazy, he sent that video the day before. Just crazy.”

Like many Kobe fans across the country and globe, even brief encounters with the former Laker are remembered with added fondness. Bellinger is no different. You can hear the reverence in his voice in talking about meeting the all-time great basketball player.

Bellinger had a wide-ranging conversation on The Darren Woodson Show in which he talked about his first game with the Dodgers, waiting for the team to officially announce he was called up on Twitter so he could notify his friends, and about his routine as a ballplayer that keeps him out of trouble from the LA nightlife.

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A recent survey by the Los Angeles Times showed Bellinger as the second most popular athlete in LA, behind LeBron James (46%). He received 10.7% of the vote, outpacing Mike Trout who received 6.7% of votes. If the young outfielder can bring a championship back to Chavez Ravine before LeBron can raise a banner with the Lakers, those numbers might change.