Bell adopt leadership role in the second period with Nats

West Palm Beach, Florida. Josh Bell did not need an introductory course to navigate the national facilities in Cotti Park of Palm Beaches. He knows how to get to the Club house, the training room and the cafeteria. He was here before.

In fact, this is the third name that the complex has had while he has been a member of the nationals. It was a baseball stadium of the beaches of Palma and then simply the stadium of the beaches of palm trees in 2021 and 2022, respectively. It has a new sponsorship this third time.

After coming to NATs in Christmas Eve in 2020, Bell called West Palm Beach Home for the next two springs. But then it was included in the Blockbuster trade by Juan Soto with the parents in the middle of the 2022 season and passed parts of the next 2 seasons in San Diego, Cleveland, Miami and Arizona.

That winding road finally took him back to West Palm after signing a one -year contract and $ 6 million to return to the NATs in the low season. And here it is back at the Spring Club house that once shared with a veteran team that is now full of many new and young faces, including some for whom it was changed only 2 and a half years ago.

“It’s great. This is definitely different,” Bell said in front of his new locker at the Club house just a few doors from his old. “New faces, some guys against which I have played in the past, and even the boys who were here when they exchanged me, were competitors in recent years. Therefore, it is good to return to the mixture and feel like a new beginning, even though it is the same club house. “

Now, when he looks around that same club house, he does not see people like Ryan Zimmerman, Max Scherzer or Soto. Instead, go to CJ Abrams, James Wood and Dylan teams sitting nearby.

Part of the reason why the NATs wanted Bell to return was for veteran leadership. With his first period in Washington, he was always respected as a good player, a game student and a great teammate. He had leadership qualities, but he didn’t need to flex them so much in a veteran team.

Those qualities will probably frequent more in this youngest team. And he will have that experience in a veteran team to look back while leading these young players under their wing.

“I think it is only reflecting (on) some of the greats I have played with,” he said. “I think of Zimmerman and Scherzer here, and (Andrew) McCutchen and Josh Harrison a couple of times here and Pittsburgh. Some dinners, some difficult talks and some conversations I needed when I was not playing well. So it is one of those scenarios in which I do not know exactly how it will look, but I know that when it is the right time, I will be able to direct. “

When Bell went to San Diego in 2022, he didn’t know he would return to Washington at some point. But he always wanted to leave that option open, and let the Nats Mike Rizzo general manager and his agent Scott Boras know.

“I think it was very good here,” Rizzo said in an exclusive interview with Amy Jennings by Masn. “We put a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure on him when he was here the first time to take us in the first base, offensive and defensive position. But with what impressed me, he is a professional professional. It is a guy who is proud of the offensive and defensive part of his game. But what he does in the Club house and what he does in the community and only the person who is simply notable. A close and dear boy for my heart. A guy who is a teammate as good as I have been close. “

“When I look back in my career, DC has always held a very special place for me and my family,” Bell said. “Obviously, I played very well here, for the most part. Nothing more than positive memories in the field and in the community. So, when I received a word from my agency that DC was interested and that Rizzo was in conversations from one side to another, I said to Boras to try to make it reality if I could. So I am happy that it has worked and I am excited for next year. “

Bell is also excited for the next few days, since the young NAT players are not the only young people who will be in charge of this spring. He and his wife, Arlia, wait for his third son in the next week, the first son of the couple.

Another bell to sound in the new season.