New York Yankees Struggling Slugger Named 'Biggest Bust' To Start This Season

The New York Yankees have seen one of their notable offseason additions struggle this year.

Apr 23, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) rounds the bases in an attempt to score during the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Bellinger was thrown out at home plate. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees are off to a fantastic start to the season, but not everyone has been performing up to their capabilities.

Coming into the year, there were plenty of concerns for the Yankees.

This spring was not a kind one to the franchise, with injuries to multiple key players. The starting rotation was battered, with Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt all getting injured. And as expected with multiple starting pitchers out, the rotation has been lackluster at times for New York.

However, the team has been foruntate to have their offense performing like one of the best in the league.

It wasn’t a guarantee that things were going to work out after losing Juan Soto in free agency, but luckily, it has been a deep group that has performed like one of the best in most offensive categories to start the season.

Even though the batting order has done well overall, it hasn’t been perfect with one notable name struggling.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about Cody Bellinger being a bust to begin the year.

 “We know at this point in his career that trying to forecast how productive Cody Bellinger will be in any given season is a fool's errand ... his expected batting average and expecting slugging percentage are as bad or almost as bad as they've ever been in his career, with no indication that he's about to turn the corner.”

The addition of the slugger from the Chicago Cubs this winter was a solid move.

With a need to replace Soto in the outfield, the addition of Bellinger allowed New York to move Aaron Judge back to his natural position of right field, which over the course of the long year, should be easier on his body.

Furthermore, Bellinger projected to be a great fit for this team on offense in Yankee Stadium.

Left-handed hitters have been built for playing home games in New York, but the former National League MVP has yet to get going with a slash line of .191/.255/.315, two home runs and 13 RBI.

It certainly hasn’t been the start to the season that he would have liked.

Furthermore, while it is just one month into the campaign, seeing some of his expected stats not being much better than his actual statistics are concerning considering that suggests there isn’t going to be a turnaround any time soon.

Bellinger is no stranger to inconsistencies in his career, and the Yankees will have to hope that he bounces back sooner rather than later.

If not, his playing time could be impacted with both Trent Grisham and Jasson Dominguez performing well.