“Dodgers top prospect Cody Bellinger hitting a double” by Minda Haas Kuhlmann is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Cody Bellinger’s accomplishments read more like something you’d score while playing a video game than the actual possibility that it could be done for real.
Since 2017, he’s been named National League rookie of the year, NL MVP, NLCS Most Valuable Player, won a Gold Glove, twice been named an NL All-Star and as of last month, the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder is a World Series champion.
However, as amazing a list of accomplishments those truly are, those are all in the wheelhouse of a superstar baseball player. Bellinger’s latest achievement, though, is off the charts. If you took advantage of the BetUS promo code to place a wager on this off-the-wall prop, you’d be collecting a very healthy stipend today.
Bellinger appears as a character in the video game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which was released Nov. 10th.
The Assassin’s Creed series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between two rival groups – the Assassins, who are fighters for peace with free will, and the Templars, who seek to attain peace via order and control. The series meshes historical fiction, science fiction and characters, elements that are mixed together with real-world historical events and figures.
Valhalla is the 11th main game to be released since the series debuted in 2007. The game is available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Stadia and the PlayStation 5.
He’s a Big Fan
Sure the World Series, the MVP, the Rookie of the Year, those are all nice to grab. But getting to be a character in a major video game release? Yes, you could say that Bellinger is just a little bit geeked.
“I’m kind of a video game nerd,” Bellinger told ESPN. “I love video games, so when I heard I had the opportunity to be a character in a big video game, I was excited, I really was.
“My brother and I played Assassin’s Creed back in the day and used to love it. The graphics are so realistic. It’s a game that will take up a lot of your time.”
Bellinger’s Character Looks Familiar
Licenses owned by Ubisoft.
Bellinger stars as Otta Sluggasson. He’s a Dane with a knack for hitting rocks very, very far.
“It translates to something like power hitter, or big hitter, or something like that,” Bellinger explained. “It was super exciting when I was doing the filming for it, and I got to swing a bat, or a stick, or an ax, so it was super natural to me.”
The career .273 hitter wields a crude-looking wooden club with metal spikes protruding from it as his weapon of choice.
“I got a big ol’ tree trunk,” Bellinger said. “Like probably what they swung in the 1920s, Babe Ruth and them, just like a big ol’ wooden thing. It’s cool.
“The character looks just like me. My voice is my voice. It’s crazy.”
If you think big-league pitchers struggle to get Bellinger out, game players will find it almost as imposing to advance in the game while facing Bellinger’s Assassin’s Creed character.
“You can find me in story mode,” he said. “You’ve got to beat me in the challenge to advance to the next place.”
Reality Meets Virtual Reality
Bellinger’s offseason excitement has included being tweeted at by LeBron James and Nick Jonas but being a video game character may top just about all of his brushes with fame.
The process of turning the real him into the virtual reality version of himself was one that he found to be utterly fascinating.
“The only time I’ve ever seen it was, like, behind the scenes when they’re making action movies,” Bellinger said. “You’ve got a bunch of balls on you, motion sensors, and a tight suit. And I had to shave my whole face. I looked like a little kid.
“As I’m moving, I could see my character, my Viking, on the screen. I would swing and walk like a Viking would, with his muscles out, all big.
“I’m 190 pounds. It felt pretty cool to be a Viking. I got to make Viking moves and added a baseball swing to it. You can’t fight me, but Otta Sluggasson would win if there were fighting.”