Nobody ever likes to hear the words “I told you so,” but the simple truth is that ThinkBlueLA.com told you so about rookie sensation Cody Bellinger. In fact, we have been on top of now 21-year-old Scottsdale, Arizona native since shortly after he was selected by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona.

Don’t believe it?

Well, the first mention of the 6′-4″ / 210-pound Scottsdale, Arizona native here on ThinkBlueLA was on June 19, 2013 – a mere 13 days after he was drafted – and he has been named in 81 separate ThinkBlueLA articles since, including several interviews by yours truly after his meteoric arrival at Rancho Cucamonga with the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on April 7, 2015, having completely bypassed Low Single-A Great Lakes.

So dominate was Bellinger with the Quakes in 2015 that not only did he help lead them to the 2015 Cal League Championship title with his league-leading 103 RBIs and second-best 30 home runs, but he also received a non-roster invitation to major league spring training camp in 2016 as a 19-year-old.

This photo of Cody Bellinger was taken on May 30, 2015 during the Quakes historic run towards the 2015 Cal League championship. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As every Dodger (and baseball) fan on the planet knows by now, Bellinger’s first 11 games with the Dodgers since his April 25 call-up have been historic, not only Dodgers franchise historic but in some cases MLB historic. Check this out:

• Bellinger’s five home runs are the most by a Dodger in his first 11 career MLB games in the modern era (since 1900)
• Bellinger is the first Dodger with two two-home-run games in the first 10 games of his MLB career in the modern era.
• The only other Dodger rookie with two multi-home-run games in their first 70 career games was Todd Hollandsworth, who had his second in his 68th game. Bellinger did it in his 10th. Hollandsworth went on to win the 1996 NL Rookie of the Year title.
• The last Dodgers rookie first baseman to have a season reminiscent of Bellinger’s was Eric Karros in 1992, although the then 24-year-old former UCLA Bruin struggled during his first month in the major leagues. He would go on to win the 1992 NL Rookie of the Year title and still owns the LA Dodgers all-time home run record with 270. Duke Snider holds the franchise record with 389 and Gil Hodges is second with 361.

Even though ThinkBlueLA’s relationship with Cody Bellinger has absolutely nothing to do with the young superstar’s epic success, we were writing about him long before most journalists, beat writers and fellow bloggers had even heard of him.

Are we gloating about this fact? Damn right we are.

…because we told you so.