Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger reportedly has surgery on shoulder injured during NLCS home run celebration
Cody Bellinger played through the pain.
But the Los Angeles Dodgers star didn’t come away unscathed after dislocating his right shoulder while celebrating a postseason home run.
Bellinger required surgery to repair the damage caused by the dislocation, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. He had the procedure on Tuesday and is expected to be sidelined for 10 weeks. If all goes well, he’ll be ready to return for spring training.
Bellinger’s celebration mishap
Bellinger suffered the injury while celebrating the decisive home run in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ Game 7 win over the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS. You can see in the injury occur here when he bumps elbows with Kiké Hernández (:31).
.@Cody_Bellinger's moment. #NLCS pic.twitter.com/8OefB2PvxN
— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2020
Bellinger continued to play and confirmed after the game that he dislocated his shoulder and needed to have it popped back in.
“I hit Kiké’s shoulder a little too hard and my shoulder popped out, so I had to go back in the training room,” Bellinger said on MLB Network. “They popped it back in and I was ready to play some defense. It kind of hurt.”
Did injury impact Bellinger’s play?
Bellinger played in all six game of the Dodgers’ World Series win over the Tampa Bay Rays, hitting 3-of-22 (.136) with a Game 1 home run.
His production was clearly below his MVP form. But it wasn’t clear if the injury played a role or if his subpar hitting just a product of small sample size and quality Rays pitching.
Now we know that the dislocation was serious enough to require surgery.
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