Kovacevic: Bell earned his 'subtle victory'

MILWAUKEE -- Josh Bell is having a 'decent' rookie season. Just ask him.

Better yet, ask his teammates who have to put up with that nonsensical assessment on a daily basis.

"He can play the game. He knows that," Andrew McCutchen was telling me Wednesday at Miller Park. "But ... hang on a second, OK?"

Cutch raised his right finger, searching for the right words.



"He wants to keep getting better. That's how I'll put it," he resumed. "He knows the kind of year he's had, but he also knows this isn't where he wants to be. Other people call it a good season. But you ask him, and it's not a good season. It's cool that he's got some home runs, some RBIs, but for him it's not enough. It's decent."

Decent?

"That's what I hear from him. It's decent. But you know what? I like that lens, the one he's looking through. Because that's what the elite players do."

That's awesome. I loved it. And you know, that's where I'm choosing to take the column's opening this morning, unless, of course, you're eager to relive another enjoyable Tyler Glasnow experience in the Pirates' 8-2 beatdown from the Brewers later in the evening?

No?

Cool. Enjoy:

Bell's 25, came to the Pirates via an unprecedented $5 million bonus as a second-round draft pick in 2011, a move so out of whack with the unspoken system in place that, after the Red Sox and other parties fumed to the commissioner's office, Major League Baseball blew up that system the same year. He then poked his head onto the roster last summer, showing enough to be a virtual lock for the starting lineup before Grapefruit ball had begun.

But this season has represented his real arrival ...



... except in his own estimation, of course. As he and I began a long talk about his season in the clubhouse, he couldn't help but rewind to his .198 May as a prequel.

"Offensively, I started really slow," Bell would start. "I was digging myself out of a hole those first two months. Come June, I was just looking to find something that works, something that sticks, something to help me become more consistent."

He found that, with the help of Jeff Branson, who advised him to abandon his slight crouch, to stand more upright and allow his lower body to do more of the driving. That happened through extensive video sessions and even more extensive time in the cage.

"It was a matter of being more narrow. I needed to get on top of my legs."

Clearly. But it's also got to be noted that his spring training was slightly delayed by offseason minor knee surgery. Since he found that groove, it's been a steady, sometimes scintillating climb: .250 in June, .290 in July, .323 in August, and still plenty of September left to make up for the .214 start to this month. His numbers soared to the point that, if not for the Dodgers' prodigious Cody Bellinger, the baseball world might be raving.

He downplayed all that, too.

"Just that time of the season. Your body warms up. Your eyes slow the ball down a little bit. This point in the season, your eyes might lag. A lot of people's best months come in the middle. Flyouts turn into home runs."

OK, well, whether or not one accepts the concept of clutch, he's also asserted himself by faring well in the role of RBI man with 46 in those three full months. For the season, when batting fourth, his slash line is .288/.359/.505, and his line with runners in scoring position is .301/.401/.602.

This was as close as I'd come in getting him to accept anything positive.

"Shoot, when it's out there for the taking ... there's nothing like it," he said of batting with ducks on ponds. "I mean, you'll take your knocks with nobody on. But when you have that opportunity to change the game, for your favor, for your team's favor ... that's what you play for. You love even the groundouts that get a guy home. Because in that situation, if you're the pitcher, you wanted to punch me out and you didn't."

And his overall assessment, including his defense at first base, a still largely new position where he now goes blissfully unnoticed most nights?

"Honestly, it's been a long season. That's how it feels. Lots of ups and downs. I don't know."

Long pause.

"Compared to where I was two years ago, it's better. I've still got a long way to go. But I do recognize, especially when I make a defensive play ... it's like, 'This was a play I couldn't make last year.' I'd definitely be a lot better if I were left-handed. But I'm not, so ... "

And then another.

"It's a good learning experience. That's how I see it. Going into the offseason, I know exactly who I want to be. It's a subtle victory."

That was it. I gave up there and went to find Josh Harrison, one of Bell's better friends and the man who spent most of 2017 to his immediate right in the infield.

"I'll say it if he won't: That's a ballplayer over there," J-Hay began with predictable energy. "He's worked his butt, and he's continuing to do that. Watching him grow this year, I'm telling him, 'Man, you can play this game. What you're doing is special and, better yet, you're heading in the right direction. Just never settle.' "

He laughed with that.

"J.B. doesn't need to hear that last part from me. He's not a guy who settles."

• On to the game: Everyone enjoying Glasnow yet?

He lasted 2 2/3 innings, gave up five runs on four hits and six walks, took excruciating pauses while running up an excruciating pitch count of 77 ... and was every bit the disaster he was in the first two months of this season.

Yeah, home plate umpire Bill Welke made a couple of terrible calls early that squeezed the kid. And it was noble of Clint Hurdle to get tossed, followed later by Tom Prince barking at Welke when he walked out to pull Glasnow in the third. They're smart to protect their prospect.

But it's not like this was some outlier. His ERA's now 7.89 through 13 starts for the Pirates, and that actually went up from 7.45, an achievement bound to be enjoyed by arithmeticians the world over.

"It was just fastball command," Hurdle said, repeating a familiar refrain on Glasnow. "He stayed aggressive. He used secondary pitches. But the fastball command kept putting him upside down in counts. He had to work uphill every time he went out there."

Play-by-play went something like this: Walk, hit, full count, a minute of gazing toward the open roof, walk, hit, zillion pitches fouled off, more gazing, more full counts and Eric Thames' 30th bomb in the third inning that made it 3-1, this on a low curve to a hitter who can't hit high fastballs, a choice that visibly irritated Hurdle:



I'd show you more, but it's a family site.

Glasnow had little to say, limiting his answers to a few syllables:

PIRATES