How did Josh Bell get groove back? Pirates slugger stopped taking BP, started laying off pitches

Josh Bell got the joke right away, given that he had homered in back-to-back games against the Kansas City Royals without taking batting practice before either one.

“Yes,” Bell said, with a smile, “I might’ve taken batting practice for the last time this year.”

The Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman has followed an All-Star season of 37 home runs and 116 RBIs with one where he has hovered around the Mendoza line for most of the shortened season this summer.

Over the past five games, however, Bell is showing signs of getting back into the swing of things. He has nine hits in 18 at-bats, with a double, two home runs and three RBIs to boost his batting average from .194 to .231.

“I really feel like I’m on time on both sides of the plate,” Bell said after Saturday’s 7-4 loss to the Royals. “It’s a good place for me to be in. I’m just trying to lock it in for as long as I can.”

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Bell knows what it’s like to be locked in a slump. He went a stretch of 16 games, from Aug. 6-28, without a home run before going deep in back-to-back games at Milwaukee on Aug. 29-30. That was followed by a nine-game span without a homer. He hit eight homers in August last season, 12 in May alone.

But Bell believes he has finally found a groove. It started when he decided to stop chasing and forced pitchers to throw in the strike zone. After his two homers in Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs showed Bell respect by intentionally walking him twice in an 8-7 win on Sept. 1. By showing better plate discipline, Bell is seeing better pitches.

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“I feel like timing is everything,” Bell said. “Timing adds to confidence, so I’m laying off pitches underneath the zone, I’m laying off pitches out of the zone. I think it just started with me just seeing more pitches, not being as aggressive as I was the first few weeks of the season and really locking in on the timing and selecting my pitch.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton has noticed the difference, as Bell followed a three-hit game Friday with two more on Saturday. He had two singles before crushing a 426-foot, two-run homer to right field in the eighth inning of the 4-3 loss on Friday, and went opposite field for a solo shot in his first at-bat Saturday. Bell also singled in the seventh.

“I think it does look more real,” Shelton said of Bell’s swing. “We’re seeing him consistently hit the fastball and drive it more. Even his last at-bat, I thought he took a really good, aggressive swing at it and he just hit it into the ground. Really positive signs. This is probably the most pleased I personally have been with how he’s swinging the bat. I think we’re starting to start to impact the baseball, which is important.”

The lack of batting practice was because of a standoff between an armed man and the Kansas City police Saturday afternoon at Truman Sports Complex, which houses both Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums. It delayed the Pirates from leaving their hotel and arriving at the ballpark until just two hours before first pitch and prevented them from taking batting practice on the field.

So Bell took about 20 or 30 swings of soft-toss and called it a day, as the batting cage was crowded with players trying to get ready for the game. He has a reputation for tinkering with his swing and stance, so Bell knows that sometimes he’s better off going without.

“It seems like less is more,” Bell said, “and I’m going to try to ride that wave for as long as I can.”