Bell feels winter work will pay off in 2019 taken at Highmark Stadium (Courtesy of StepOutside.org)

JOSH BELL - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Josh Bell had a difficult decision to make: Spend a large part of the offseason in Los Angeles or Miami?

“I figured I couldn’t go wrong either way,” the Pirates first baseman said. “But my sister lived in Miami for a while, so I’ve been there before. I’d never really spent much time in Cali, so I decided to go to L.A.”

To be exact, Bell spent most of his time in Newport Beach, Calif., which was close enough to see LeBron James play in person for the first time. Bell attended three Lakers games and observed the celebrities who routinely visit the Staples Center.

However, it was more a business trip than vacation. Agent Scott Boras connected Bell with hitting guru Jim DeMarco.

“It was great to be out there,” Bell said last weekend during PiratesFest at PNC Park. “I feel good and strong. I was able to get a lot of outside work. I was able to work on my approach at the plate and my fielding. I learned and got better. I’m ready to show off my improvement.”

Bell was considered one of the Pirates’ biggest disappointments last season. His home run total fell to just 12 after he connected 26 times in 2017 while finishing third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. His RBIs also dropped from 90 to 62.

In terms of OPS+, Bell had a better season in 2018. It increased by two points from his rookie year to 111 as he batted .261/.357/.411 in 148 games.

However, first base is a position in which more than a dozen home runs in a season are expected, especially from a switch hitter who is 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds.

Bell and the Reds’ Joey Votto were last in homers among the 21 players who appeared in at least 100 games at first base in 2018. Votto, though, compensated by leading the NL with a .417 on-base percentage.

Bell is looking to return to the approach that worked for him two years ago.

“I want to get back to using the left-center-field gap to my advantage,” Bell said. “It’s a mentality change. Trying to let the ball travel the best I can. I know I’m going to get a lot of changeups away and fastballs away, so I have to attack those pitches.”

The 26-year-old switch-hitter did some number crunching with DeMarco in the hope analytics could play a role in restoring his lost power.

“We looked at the different ways that pitchers would game plan for me,” Bell said. “Instead of a generalized plan, I got to see what pitchers would do to specifically attack me. Now I have that information and it helps me adjust in response. Hitting is a constant chess game.”

How well Bell adjusts remains to be seen.

One area in which he needs to improve is hitting more balls in the air. He has hit 50 percent ground balls in his career as opposed to 31 percent fly balls and 19 percent line drives.

The various projection systems do not expect him to clear the fences as often as he did as a rookie.

Baseball-Reference’s Marcel Monkey tabs Bell to hit 16 home runs with a .257/.343/.429 line. FanGraph’s Steamer predicts 15 homers while batting .270/.359/.444.

Bell’s home run regression is at least part of the reason why the Pirates fired hitting coach Jeff Branson and assistant Jeff Livesey at the end of last season and replaced them with Rick Eckstein and Jacob Cruz. The Pirates were 19th in the major leagues in runs scored with an average of 4.30 and their 157 homers were 25th among the 30 MLB teams.

Eckstein and Bell worked together for 90 minutes one afternoon in Newport Beach. They then talked hitting for another couple of hours over a Taco Tuesday dinner at a nearby restaurant.

“It’s a great way to build trust,” Bell said. “We also watched videos of (Bryce) Harper and (Barry) Bonds. Seeing those guys and their approach was helpful. That’s the type of impact I want to have. Last season, a lot of guys picked me up. I was able to lean on a lot of guys to pick up the slack. It’s my turn to pay that back this year.”

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