Return engagement: Josh Bell & Trevor Williams

[JCA-CrystalCity]

3 out of the past 4 years, he's gotten off to the same start as this year:

March/April Bell stats:
2021: .113 / .200 /.264, 60 PA, 2 HR
2022: .365 / 365 / .460, 89 PA, 2 HR
2023:  .206 / .305 / .392, 118 PA, 3 HR
2024: .181 / .269 / .284, 131 PAs, 3 HR

Bell March April through 4/26:

2025: .135 / .238 / .292, 101 PA, 4 HR.

Dave in Fairfax pulled the 100 PA numbers from 2021:

He's played in 25 of 27 games this season. He is .135 /.238/.292 in 89 ABs/101 PAs, with 4 HR and 12 RBI.

As of his 25th game in 2021, he was .154/.220/.341 in 91 ABs/100 PAs, with 4 HRs and 15 RBI.

It took him until his 33rd game to get above the Mendoza line, and after that his average slowly climbed, ending at .261.

[Smithian]

Josh Bells history says give him more time. But if we’re 150 ABs in and this is what we’re getting out of him then they should punt him. Chaparro, Tena, Yepez, we have other options there.

[Air Desmond]

Bell is worse than Gallo. Putting him in the middle of the order everyday is malpractice. He consistently comes up in big spots and fails.

[imref]

Call up Lile.

[IanRubbish]

Bell is worse than Gallo. Putting him in the middle of the order everyday is malpractice. He consistently comes up in big spots and fails.

He's got incredibly low BABIP.  Not saying he deserves a lineup spot, but he's not the K machine Gallo was. 

[welch]

So Bell should improve in May, but right now, and ignoring that hope, Alex Call hits. Let him share DH with Wood.

[Smithian]

I know it's been a rough couple days, but we're not "give up the season" bad. Josh Bell needs to be off the island. I'll allow for understanding giving him another week or so, but then it's "I'm Bad" phantom injury DL or DFA him.

Juan Yepez's 2024 stat line would look great on this roster right now. He's struggled in Rochester, but I'd be okay considering Hassell Jr. Maybe this is the Brady House moment and you move Tena to DH.

We have options. I don't need another Nelson Cruz situation.

[IanRubbish]

I know it's been a rough couple days, but we're not "give up the season" bad. Josh Bell needs to be off the island. I'll allow for understanding giving him another week or so, but then it's "I'm Bad" phantom injury DL or DFA him.

Juan Yepez's 2024 stat line would look great on this roster right now. He's struggled in Rochester, but I'd be okay considering Hassell Jr. Maybe this is the Brady House moment and you move Tena to DH.

We have options. I don't need another Nelson Cruz situation.

Josh Bell is going nowhere, just like Joey Gallo last year.  As I mentioned earlier, he's had some bad luck with BABIP.  But more importantly, Rizzo convinced Mini Me to spend $6 million on him, which means he will be playing more that he deserves, as $5 million Joey Gallo did last year.  Need to get down to $2 million and down to have a real chance at getting cut, and even then you'll Senzel more playing time than deserved.

[imref]

An argument that Bell has already cost us at least one win:

https://www.talknats.com/2025/05/02/do-you-want-consistently-good-or-streaky-great-in-baseball/

[English Natsie]

A pretty harsh assessment, during commentary, by the Reds booth crew on Bell's 'unhappy reunion with the Nationals'. They claimed that the problem is when an older player knows they're getting 'over-the-hill' they begin to over-predict pitches, in order to compensate, so they end up swinging too high and too early...

[IanRubbish]

An argument that Bell has already cost us at least one win:

https://www.talknats.com/2025/05/02/do-you-want-consistently-good-or-streaky-great-in-baseball/

All sounded ok until they said "he's working with Darnell". 

[Natsinpwc]

I saw Bell was ranked 3rd worst player this year.  Just ahead of Joc Pederson.  Like others I thought the latter would be a good acquisition.  Not far behind those two is Jeimar Candelario. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'm not sure who is kicking down the door to replace Bell. I suppose Amed Rosario or Call are playing well enough to get every day at bats, but I think they'd benefit from a lefty bat. I think the best move may be to give Bell to the end of the month then call up House if Bell doesn't show anything and House continues to hit.

I'm liking that House is walking again. I'm not so cool with the K rate, but if this team isn't going to sign a few gap fillers around a core until the core is all up, then I think this season the core all has to be up and get playing time.

[Slateman]

I'm not sure who is kicking down the door to replace Bell. I suppose Amed Rosario or Call are playing well enough to get every day at bats, but I think they'd benefit from a lefty bat. I think the best move may be to give Bell to the end of the month then call up House if Bell doesn't show anything and House continues to hit.

I'm liking that House is walking again. I'm not so cool with the K rate, but if this team isn't going to sign a few gap fillers around a core until the core is all up, then I think this season the core all has to be up and get playing time.

Move Wood to DH and put Call in LF.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Move Wood to DH and put Call in LF.

I know he's gets bad jumps in LF, maybe because he just doesn't focus before contact, but I hate the idea of pulling the plug defensively on a guy that young with that much speed. Even his height is an asset on balls at the wall, or should be.

[IanRubbish]

I'm not sure who is kicking down the door to replace Bell.

Alex Call, and it's not close.  Call has a .455 OBP, which would put him #2 in all of MLB if he had a few more PAs to qualify, a 2.0 BB/K rate, and a sub-10% K rate.   It's absurd to bench him while starting Crews, Young, and Bell, as Davey did last night.   

[KV]

Call should play somewhere every day until he stops hitting.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Alex Call, and it's not close.  Call has a .455 OBP, which would put him #2 in all of MLB if he had a few more PAs to qualify, a 2.0 BB/K rate, and a sub-10% K rate.   It's absurd to bench him while starting Crews, Young, and Bell, as Davey did last night.   

Call should play somewhere every day until he stops hitting.

I'm actually surprised he's gotten more than half his PAs against righties. He's .318 / .456 / .409. Could, maybe should be full time until he returns to earth. I get trying to get Bell untracked, but at this point, if Call continues to have some success, he could be your trading chip rather than Bell.  the power isn't there, but the OBP, plate discipline, and the ability to play 3 OF positions makes him useful.

I guess I feel a little burned by his 2023, so I'm wary about him full-time, but he does seem to be a guy to ride while he's hot, at the very least. Useful skill set. Worst case, he plays like Bell has and loses his job to Hassell in a couple of months.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

  It's absurd to bench him while starting Crews, Young, and Bell, as Davey did last night.   

To pick up on your second point, regardless of whether you want to let Crews and Bell hit their way out of their funk, you can't have an effective batting order with 3 big holes playing at once. If Crews or Young were hitting, then you could afford to give Bell more slack. But now, he's the straw that's breaking Davey's camel's back.

[imref]

Guess who is back at DH tonight

[IanRubbish]

Guess who is back at DH tonight

And hitting the 6th, gotta play the contract.

Also absurd that the team with the 3rd most runs given up in the NL, and one of the worst bullpens in history, is starting five batters tonight with OPSs of .600 or worse.  I get that Davey and Darnell think the answer is just to bunt their way on or something, but this is just what the Braves need to get back over .500.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Bell discusses how he tried to change his swing to hit for more power this year & how that was a disaster he is trying to fix on the fly now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/05/20/josh-bell-nationals-dh/

Noting that his average and OPS are among the lowest of any qualified hitter in MLB, Golden points out that his exit velocity and hard hit percentage are his lowest since 2017 and that they've been declining for several years.

There’s also his approach. Bell has seen more pitches in the zone (48.3 percent) than in any other season. But he has swung at 66.9 percent of them; that’s tied with his 2017 season for the lowest percentage of his career. Bell has chased more (30 percent) than he has in any other season.

Mentions that in trying to elevate more on contact to get power, he was willing to swing and miss more. Stood more upright and tried to hit under the ball

His numbers reflect a change. His 29.4 percent whiff rate is the highest of his career. His pull percentage (49.5) and pulled swings in the air (18.1) are the highest of his career. But he wasn’t hitting the ball with authority. Those stadium-jolting obliterations? They stopped at the warning track. Those balls to the pull side? They went too high in the air. So does he have any regrets about the swing change?

“The posture thing, maybe I should,” Bell said last week during Washington’s series in Atlanta, before he paused and stared up at a clubhouse television screen. “I wish that had worked. Because I felt like, with the amount of balls I was hitting in the air, if I was hitting them at 110 [mph], I’d be in a different position right now.”

He ended up popping up more than ever and not hitting fastballs. He's adjusting by getting back in more of a crouch and trying to be shorter and more direct to the ball. He actually has a 7 game hitting streak going, albeit 1 hit per game.

[imref]

Bell could do this kind of work on his swing in the Independent League and then resign with a MLB team if/when he figures things out.

Maybe Chaparro's return will be what finally forces Rizzo's hand?

[IanRubbish]

Bell could do this kind of work on his swing in the Independent League and then resign with a MLB team if/when he figures things out.

Maybe Chaparro's return will be what finally forces Rizzo's hand?

Bell is getting 6 million Lernerbucks.  They are not going to just cut him, this franchise does not operate like that as we know.  Moreover, he's got a .162 BABIP, I'll bet he's here to the All-Star Break at least.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Bell could do this kind of work on his swing in the Independent League and then resign with a MLB team if/when he figures things out.

Maybe Chaparro's return will be what finally forces Rizzo's hand?

Chaparro has options so there's no need to clear active roster space.