Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger has 16 Defensive Runs Saved this season, by far the most for a left fielder in the major leagues.
Most Defensive Runs Saved – Left Fielders in 2026
| Name | Team | Defensive Runs Saved |
| Cody Bellinger | Yankees | 16 |
| Jarren Duran | Red Sox | 6 |
| Chandler Simpson | Rays | 6 |
| Wyatt Langford | Rangers | 5 |
| Daylen Lile | Nationals | 5 |
| Tyler Soderstrom | Athletics | 5 |
Yet Bellinger has not even attempted a dive or slide to catch a ball this season.
Those data points don’t seem to make sense when put together but if you watch how Bellinger has accumulated his Runs Saved (12 of the 16 have come from his range), it’s a little easier to understand.
Here are three fly balls that Bellinger has chased down in three different ballparks, all in the same manner: sprinting.
Bellinger is the best left fielder in baseball at making sprinting catches. The average left fielder catches the ball on 39% of his sprints. Bellinger has caught 37 of 63 (59%). That rate ranks best among any of the 49 left fielders with even 20 sprint attempts.
Sprinting catches made when Bellinger retreats are high value catches because if he misses these balls, the result is a double or a triple.
Per MLB’s jump stats, Bellinger isn’t necessarily the fastest (he’s below average on both his sprint speed and his 90-foot splits) and he doesn’t get the best jumps immediately after the ball hits the bat, but he is able to make up ground later in his chase and take a productive route to the ball.
“His routes are pure,” said Yankees broadcaster Paul O’Neill, a former outfielder with a famous sprinting catch in the 1996 World Series. “You never see him circling around the ball. It’s Point A to Point B. And he doesn’t have to dive for balls because he controls his body so well, he has this knack for being in the right spot and making plays look easier than they really are.”
Bellinger catches everything he’s supposed to catch. He’s missed 3 balls this year for which he’s been docked at least a half-run, but he has 10 catches on balls that were worth at least a half-run. The differential explains his Runs Saved total being so high. Other left fielders have a hard time matching that.
Plays Made/Missed In 2026 – Left Fielders
| Players | Plays Made >= 0.5 Runs | Plays Missed <= 0.5 Runs |
| Cody Bellinger | 10 | 3 |
| Jarren Duran | 4 | 2 |
| Chandler Simpson | 11 | 9 |
| Wyatt Langford | 8 | 3 |
| Daylen Lile | 7 | 6 |
| Tyler Soderstrom | 5 | 12 |
We haven’t even mentioned that Bellinger is good at other things too. His range numbers on shallow fly balls are excellent too and he is tied for the MLB lead among left fielders in the outfield arm component of Runs Saved.
The only thing that would seem to keep Bellinger’s Runs Saved total in left field down is if he doesn’t play there. With Trent Grisham on the injured list with a hamstring injury, Bellinger has played center field in two of the last three games and has totaled -2 Runs Saved filling in there this season. It’s left field where he’s best suited at this point in his career, and much better suited than anyone else in the sport.
