Power Player

Rookie Josh Bell thrives in relative obscurity

- Jerry Crasnick

Some players become switch-hitters to hasten their paths through professional ball. Josh Bell learned the drill somewhere between preschool and kindergarten. His father Earnest was a wide receiver and track star at

Southern University, and he saw the requisite coordination in his son to think the arrangement might work. So he handed the boy a bat, and from tee-ball through Little League, young Josh Bell alternated between hitting from the left side and the right during games.

“It was fun to give the pitcher a different look,” Bell said. “It was cool to be able to hit homers from both sides of the plate at a young age.’’

Some competitive thrills withstand the test of time. As the rookie first baseman Bell has discovered in his first full season with the Pirates, it’s equally cool circling the bases against the likes of Adam Wainwright, Jon Lester and C.C. Sabathia.

The 25-year-old Bell passed Chipper Jones and set a National League rookie record for switch-hitters when he launched his 24th homer against the Cubs in early September. As the season wound to a close, he was flirting with the major league record of 27 shared by Eddie Murray and Tony Clark.

Most years, those kinds of numbers might brand Bell as a Rookie of the Year front runner. But steady and consistent aren’t in vogue this summer.