Josh Bell is already good and he's going to get better

Josh Bell, selected in the 2011 MLB draft by the Pirates, was given his initial call up by the Pirates in 2016 and proceeded to wow us with a single in his first at bat and a grand slam in his encore performance. Since then, he's been going through the rookie peaks and valleys, as is usual. However, this 24-year old out of Irving, Texas has already proven that he can be a special player, and he is only going to continue to improve. 

First let's start with the thing he's most known for; his bat. Bell possesses a rare quality for a hitter and one that many players desire. That being a quality mixture of plate discipline, ability to hit it the other way almost at will, and some power to boot. 

Josh Bell didn't show off his power stroke as much in the minors or in his initial MLB experience, but this year we have seen a change. He's hit for more power in terms of doubles and homers are starting to come much more often than they ever have before. 

However, at a minor sacrifice of showing some more power, Josh Bell has sacrificed a bit of his ability to hit the ball the opposite way and maybe is pressing in more at-bats than usual, leading to a lower OBP (his OBP in 2016 was .368 and so far is down to .323 this year) and a higher strikeout rate (up 12.5% to 21% currently) at the sake of more run production overall. This could also be attributed to him still being a young player that needs to adjust to everything that comes at him, but most likely it's a bit of everything. 

Now let's talk about his defense. When Josh Bell came up to the majors, his defense was bad. It was bad enough that there were worries he'd never figure it out. However, he has looked way better in 2017. He's no magician over there, but he's trending in the correct direction for sure. Even if you just watch him, he seems more comfortable at 1st base, and the numbers seem to back it up. He has a DRS (defensive runs saved) of 1, as opposed to that number being -3 last year. Additionally his UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) this year is 0.2 this year as opposed to -2.2 last year, and his UZR/150 is at 1.8 this season while it was -32.8 last year. All these numbers combined with just watching him shows he's shown major growth defensively at 1B. 

Josh Bell is growing into a great hitter while also improving by leaps and bounds defensively everyday it seems. At this current trajectory, it's hard to envision that Josh Bell won't be a terrific baseball player. Pirates have finally found a staple 1st baseman that they hope they can plug in there for years to come.