Josh Bell graduated from Dallas Jesuit in 2011. In his senior year, he hit .548 with 13 Home Runs, 54 RBIs with a 1.054 Slugging Percentage. He was named a 5A 1st Team All-State Outfielder, the Gatorade/ESPN Texas Baseball Player of the Year, and to the USA Today All-USA High School Baseball Team. He signed a National Letter of Intent with the Texas Longhorns.
As a junior, Bell hit .412 with 10 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 11 HRs, 36 RBIs, 39 Runs with a .896 Slugging Percentage. He was named a 5A 1st Team All-State Outfielder and the 8-5A MVP. As a sophomore, he hit .313 with 3 HRs.
Bell was drafted in the 2nd Round (61st overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He likely would have been chosen higher but he wrote a letter to MLB prior to his senior season asking the 30 MLB teams to not draft him because he was committed to attending the University of Texas. However, the Pirates took a chance and it paid off. Bell agreed to a contract with a $5 million signing bonus in August of 2011. That signing bonus still remains today as the largest bonus for a player not taken in the first round.
Bell played 5 seasons in the Minor Leagues. He played in the All-Star Futures Game in 2014 and 2015 and was named the Florida State League player of the year in 2014.
He made his major league debut with the Pirates on July 8, 2016 as a pinch hitter. On July 9th, in his second MLB at-bat, Bell hit a grand slam. He finished the 2016 season with the Pirates and had a .273 average with 3 HRs and 19 RBIs in 128 at bats.
In 2017, Bell broke the National League record for most home runs by a rookie switch hitter with 26 Home Runs. He finished 3rd place in the National League Rookie of the Year award.
In 2019, Bell was elected to his first MLB All-Star Game. He also participated in the 2019 Home Run Derby where he was eliminated in the first round after hitting 18 home runs. Bell hit two home runs on the fly into the Allegheny River behind PNC Park in 2019. He is the first player to hit 2 home runs into the Allegheny.
In 4 seasons with the Pirates, Bell has a career .265 Batting Average, 78 Home Runs and 287 RBIs.
The complete 20 member THSB All-Decade Team can be found in the 2020 Preseason THSB Magazine.
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