BELL, HEATH  
 
Image of    Nickname:   N/A Position:   P
Home: San Diego, California Team:   Retired
Height: 6' 2" Bats:   R
Weight: 250 Throws:   R
DOB: 9/29/1977 Agent: Sam Levinson
Birth City: Oceanside, California Draft: 1998 - Mets - Free agent - Out of junior college
Uniform #: N/A  
 
YR LEA TEAM SAL(K) G IP H SO BB GS CG SHO SV W L OBA ERA
1998 APP KINGSPORT   22 46 40 61 11 0 0 0 8 1 0   2.54
1999 SAL COLUMBIA   55 62 47 68 17 0 0 0 25 1 7   2.60
2000 FSL ST. LUCIE   48 60 43 75 21 0 0 0 23 5 1   2.55
2001 EL BINGHAMTON   43 61 82 55 19 0 0 0 4 3 1   6.02
2002 EL BINGHAMTON   24 38 22 49 6 0 0 0 6 1 0   1.18
2002 IL NORFOLK   22 32 38 28 9 0 0 0 5 3 4   4.26
2003 IL NORFOLK   40 50 54 54 8 0 0 0 3 2 3   4.71
2004 IL NORFOLK   45 56 42 68 24 0 0 0 16 3 1   3.23
2004 NL METS $300.00 17 24.1 22 27 6 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.253 3.33
2005 NL METS   42 46.2 56 43 13 0 0 0 0 1 3 0.298 5.59
2005 IL NORFOLK   13 27 15 20 5 2 0 0 6 1 0   1.69
2006 IL NORFOLK   30 35 27 56 8 0 0 0 12 3 3 0.208 1.29
2006 NL METS   22 37 51 35 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.331 5.11
2007 NL PADRES $385.00 81 93.2 60 102 30 0 0 0 2 6 4 0.185 2.02
2008 NL PADRES $420.00 74 78 66 71 28 0 0 0 0 6 6 0.229 3.58
2009 NL PADRES $1,255.00 68 69.2 54 79 24 0 0 0 42 6 4 0.213 2.71
2010 NL PADRES $4,000.00 67 70 56 86 28 0 0 0 47 6 1 0.221 1.93
2011 NL PADRES $7,500.00 64 62.2 51 51 21 0 0 0 43 3 4 0.223 2.44
2012 NL MARLINS $7,000.00 73 63.2 70 59 29 0 0 0 19 4 5 0.282 5.09
2013 NL DIAMONDBACKS $9,000.00 69 65.2 74 72 16 0 0 0 15 5 2 0.279 4.11
2014 AL RAYS   13 17.1 24 12 8 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.324 7.27
2014 IL SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE   5 6 7 8 6 0 0 0 1 0 1   7.50
2014 IL NORFOLK   10 10.2 15 11 6 0 0 0 1 2 0   4.22

  • Bell's father, Jim, was a United States Marine.  Heath's Dad would not let him quit baseball. And he was ready to hang it up on a couple different occasions. When the college scholarship offers from Division I schools didn't come, and then when he wasn't drafted out of junior college, Heath was ready to enlist in the Marines.

    • "I was like, 'Man, my dreams are gone,'" Heath said. "The scouts were talking about me, and if they're not going to draft me, I must not be good."

    But every time Heath was ready to join the service, he had a lunch with his father. Jim always talked Heath out of enlisting and continued to push his son to pursue his baseball dreams.

    That doesn't mean Jim was against the military. In fact, he was a Marine for most of his adult life.  Heath recalled one story his father told him that epitomizes his no-quit mentality.  One day during boot camp, the Marines brought in a marathon runner to provide quite the physical challenge for the cadets.

    "[My Dad] told himself he would not stop running alongside this marathon guy," Heath said. "He was dying, and guys were falling off left and right by the end of the day. The whole point was for the marathon runner to run and let every cadet basically fall off, and then it was done.

    "My Dad was the only one who stayed with him the whole time." (Gina Mizell-MLB.com-6/15/10)

  • Heath didn't make his California high school varsity baseball team until his senior year. He got no college scholarship offers, eventually making the Rancho Santiago (now Santa Ana) Community College team after a tryout. Regardless, he was the first in his family to attend college. His college coach then told him he had no future in pro baseball. And it looked for a while as if the coach would be right.

    Bell eventually signed with the Mets as a free agent. His signing bonus was a paltry $500.

  • After graduating from high school in Tustin, California, Bell attended Rancho Santiago Junior College in California. He was drafted following his freshman season by Tampa Bay, in the 69th round. Before the draft, Heath told the Phillies he wanted to stay in college for another year since he was the first person in his family to continue his education past high school

  • Bell picked up his nickname "Taco" after he arrived to practice one day with a bag of food from Taco Bell. His college teammates began ribbing Heath, nicknaming him "Taco."

  • Heath loves what he is doing. He loves everything about the game.

  • Heath's cousin, Drake Bell, is an actor and musician.

    WORKING ON HIS WEIGHT

  • He lost nearly 30 pounds on the Weight Watchers diet during the off-season before 2002 spring training. He also dyed his hair blonde.

  • Before the 2005 season, Heath dropped over 20 pounds by way of a regimen that included Roller-blading eight miles to the Mets' spring training complex ever day. This California native was used to the 'blades, having been known to frequent skater-friendly Newport Beach.

    "I've been Roller-blading a long time and I had wrist guards and protection on," Bell said of being safe. And he also worked with another training tool—a Chuck Norris-brand home gym.

    "My Mom loves infomercials," Heath said with a laugh. "She called me one day and said, 'Hey, can you use this?' I said, 'Sure.' And she drove it to Port St. Lucie, Florida (where his wife and child now live) from Texas."

  • In November 2002, Bell left his Caracas team in the Venezuelan Winter League to be with his daughter in the United States.

  • Heath is the father of four, including a daughter with Down syndrome. The four are Jasmyne, Jordyn, Reece, and Rhett.

    But his wife, Nicole, often likes to say that she has five children, including Heath in the number.

  • Bell is confident. During 2005 spring training, as fans clamored outside a fence to get autographs, Bell yelled to them, "You don't know me now, but you'll know me before the season is over."

    Bell seems to go through life feeling that nothing can stop him from realizing his baseball potential.

    "As a kid, I always said I wanted to be in the big leagues," Bell said. "Lots of people told me, 'What do you really want to do?' But you know, if you have a dream, you'll do everything possible to make it happen. I've had to overcome so many obstacles, it's changed my life a bit."

    Bell may eventually find himself in position to become a rich man, but he said he's never been about money. He said he is happy with his wife, three children and house. He is helping one of those children, 3-year-old Jordyn, deal with Down's Syndrome. (Charlie Nobles-MLB.com-4/21/05)

  • Heath's wife's name is Nicole. She is Chinese; Heath is Polish.

  • During the winter before 2008 spring training, Bell did home projects such as bricklaying.

  • Heath spent a lot of "parenting time" with his children and wife during the offseason before 2009 spring training. Among their favorite activities together was yoga-like stretching that Bell said improved his flexibility. And, he lost a few pounds.

  • At the end of 2009 spring training, Bell walked around the clubhouse with his pet rat, Daisy, on his shoulder. Naturally, he told reporters about it after strolling into the media room, with Daisy aboard.

  • Bell answers reporters' questions with candor and color.

    "Like my wife says, I'm very quotable. But I try to say it in a nice way. I don't try to hurt anybody. I can't please everybody. I try to please everybody," Heath said.

  • During the offseason before 2009 spring training, Bell lost about 25 pounds with a training program that included many hours playing Nintendo's Wii Fit game, which runs a series of interactive exercise programs.

    Heath said he played Wii Fit so often that he annoyed his three children.

    "They were like, 'Dad, get off, it's my turn,' " he said. And when he told them he was working, they replied, "Dad, you don't work."

  • October 8, 2009: Heath's wife, Nicole gave birth to the couple's fourth child, a son, Rhett Matthew.

  • Heath is just a child at heart, and he knows it.

    "I'm more a kid than an adult person,” he said recently. “My father once told me, ‘You’re as old as you feel, stay young.’ I’m a responsible 10-year-old. People around the league who don’t know me, see me differently—as this mean, intense, say-anything guy whose something of hardhead.”

    Teammates view Bell as friendly, funny and sometimes too outspoken for his own good.

    "I'm just a guy,” he said. “I love my family and kids. I love to do fun, and some would say funny, things. Biggest thing is, I’m just a fan. If I weren’t playing baseball, I’d be watching it.

    “But I am playing baseball. So I’m going to play while being me. I say what I feel. I don’t have a filter. I talk sometimes like I’m still a kid. Some people take that as being cocky and arrogant. But I’m neither. I’m Heath Bell.”

    And that might mean saying something outlandish.

    Or, flying a remote-control helicopter into the rafters of the roof at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

    Or, launching water balloons off the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. building at Petco Park.

    Or, riding a motorized beer cooler across the outfield grass at Petco.

    Or, and this could be the kicker, taking his children to school while riding a motorized chair through the neighborhood.

    “It’s great,” he said. “The parents who see us coming in that chair don’t see me as a ballplayer. They see me as the nut of a father in the motorized chair.” (Bill Center-San Diego Union Tribune-2/28/10)

  • Heath's father, Jim was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in February 2010, just as the Padres were starting spring training.

    "It's hard," Heath said. "It's hard for my Mom to talk about it, and it's hard for my Dad to talk about it."

    Jim went through more than two months of chemotherapy and radiation, where his weight dipped to around 130 pounds. The next steps in his treatment will be determined in the coming weeks. When Heath noticed his father was mentally struggling, he wouldn't let Jim give up.

    "I honestly think he was losing faith, and he was giving up and he was just waiting to die," Heath said. "I truly believe that. I yelled at him over the phone after [the Padres'] Houston trip [in May]."

    Heath shared those feelings with his daughter, Jasmine, who then started calling Jim every day. Since the extra push from Heath and Jasmine, Jim's spirit has been on a huge upswing.

    "He kind of needed his youngest son and one of his grandkids to turn him around," Heath said. "He's done better ever since my daughter's been calling him. I think he's starting to find a will to live again."

    Jim never allowed Heath to quit baseball. And now, Heath won't allow his Dad to quit on life.

    "Sometimes you need a little kick in the butt, for whatever reason," Heath said. "He needed a little butt whoopin'. Everyone knows I'm not afraid to kick some butt here and there, because my butt's been whooped. I whooped him back in shape, so hopefully he keeps this thing going, or I'm going to whoop him back in shape again."

    After all, Heath is his father's son.

  • In November and December 2010, Heath and his wife, Nicole, covered a good section of the Pacific Ocean on trips to the Fijian island of Tavarua followed by a vacation to Hawaii, where the couple renewed their wedding vows the first week of December.

    These were memory-making trips to be sure, just not for all the right reasons.

    While in Maui, the two-time All-Star was hospitalized with what was later diagnosed as typhoid fever, a bacterial infection that worked its way into Bell's bloodstream on their trip to Tavarua 10 days earlier. Typhoid fever, if left untreated, can lead to intestinal complications, kidney failure and, in some cases, death.

    "It's something I ate in Tavarua. It gets in your stomach and you usually flush it out. For whatever reason, my body didn't flush it out," Bell said.

  • Heath and Nicole have four children, daughters Jasmyne and Jordyn, and sons Reece and Rhett.

  • Early in 2011, Heath began a major backyard renovation at his North Carolina home that he hoped workers would finish by the All-Star break. It includes a kitchen and a new swimming pool, plus moving and adding plants, etc.

  • May 16, 2013:  Heath Bell pried open the bullpen door in the left-field corner of Chase Field on April 2 and sprinted to the mound to make his Diamondbacks debut against the Cardinals.  Following a tumultuous season in Miami in 2012, in which he established career-worst figures in runs allowed and blown saves, to say Bell wanted to make a good first impression on his new club would be an understatement.

    "I came in and I was like, 'I have no idea what I'm doing wrong,'" he said. "I felt great arm-wise, my velocity was there, there was just something mechanically I was doing wrong, and I had no idea what it was."

    Lost and unable to decipher the issue by himself, help arrived the next day. Bell, Gibson, pitching coach Charles Nagy and bullpen coach Glenn Sherlock sat down together, looked at film and eventually pinpointed what was going awry. The problem wasn't at the end of Bell's throwing motion like he thought; instead, it was coming from the beginning.  Bell, whose delivery is already about as rock and fire as it gets, was rushing too much.

    "Everybody has to get to a certain point before they throw the ball, and he wasn't getting to that point," Nagy said. "He was just going a little early." Seems simple, but for Bell, it was like a light flipping on.  "Sometimes you just need some different eyes on it," he said.

    Once the issue was identified, D-Backs manager Kirk Gibson wanted to give Bell a fresh mental approach to the game, so more problems wouldn't resurface down the road. "He talked about last year a lot, and I didn't want that. I asked him to tell me some good things he remembered," Gibson said. "Your mind, the way it works, you have to watch what you store in there because that's what helps shape your picture of yourself. Sometimes when we imprint too many bad things in our memory, it can turn into a mechanical problem."

    Armed with a renewed sense of purpose, Bell said it took him about a week to implement what the coaches saw, and since then, he has been trying to build off it. Now, more than six weeks later, the results still aren't exactly where he'd like them to be, but the improvement is vastly evident.

    Regardless of his eventual successes or failures, one thing is certain for Bell in 2013: he's back to enjoying coming to the ballpark every day, relishing in his fresh start in the desert with a coaching staff and clubhouse that supports him. (Emerick - mlb.com-5/16/13)

  • Former basketball player Erik Meek is Heath's cousin.

  • A day after being released by the Nationals in the spring of 2015, Bell was only a few hours into what he was expecting to be a three-day solo drive back to San Diego, where he will join his wife, Nicole, and their four children for good.

    Bell said that he's decided to retire rather than attempt to latch on to a team for another run at getting back to the big leagues. The reason, he said, was pretty simple. "My kids wanted me home," Bell said. "What's more important: my kids or the big leagues? I've already accomplished more than I ever dreamed of. Now it's time to help them accomplish their dreams."

    A HUGE thank you to my fans who supported me through both good times and tough ones. Your cheers fueled me every time I sprinted in.- Heath Bell (@HeathBell21) March 24, 2015

    "I felt I still had it," he said. "I was doing pretty well, not the best." But when he called home with the news, his 11-year-old son, Reece, had other ideas. "He wanted me home. I said, 'All right, I'm coming home,'" Bell said.

    So Bell loaded up the RV, one that he and his family -- wife Nicole, daughters Jasmyne (16) and Jordyn (13) and sons Reece and Rhett (5) -- drove from their home in San Diego to Florida, where the Nationals train in February. They made it a two-week trip.  "We wanted to see the country as a family," he said.

    The drive back to San Diego, Bell said, will give him plenty of time to reflect on what's certainly been a wild ride of a career. "I had so many good memories," Bell said. "Getting to the big leagues with the Mets, with the Padres in 2007, almost going to the playoffs, the great times with [Greg] Maddux, [Brian] Giles, Adrian [Gonzalez], [Hoffman], David Wells. It's been a great ride." 

    Bell said he'll be involved with Reece's baseball team and would love to get involved with coaching the game at some level, citing how Wells currently coaches high school baseball in Point Loma, Calif. He's been told he would be a natural for broadcasting, too; that his gregarious, amiable personality would play well on television or radio. For now, though, all of that will have to wait.

    "You know, [the Nationals] released me but I really believe I'm still walking away the way I wanted to walk away, for the right reasons," Bell said. "It's a really happy moment for me. I can say I'm a dad and I'm a husband. I can focus on that."

    Well, that and the two-plus days of driving that were still ahead of him. Just Bell, the road, his thoughts, and that stereo.

    "I've had it cranked up pretty loud," he said. "I've been singing here, and the people driving next to me probably think I'm crazy."  (Brock - mlb.com - 3/24/15)



    TRANSACTIONS

  • 1998: The Mets signed Bell as a free agent, out of junior college, for only $500. Because he wasn't drafted, he says, "I know I have to be better than everybody else. I have a goal to learn something every day."

  • November 15, 2006: The Padres sent OF Ben Johnson and P Jon Adkins to the Mets, acquiring Bell and P Royce Ring.

  • January 20, 2009: Heath and the Padres avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $1.225 million contract.

  • January 15, 2010: Bell and the Padres again avoided arbitration when Heath signed for $4 million.

  • January 18, 2011: Heath and the Padres avoided arbitration by agreeing on a $7.5 million contract for 2011.

  • December 5, 2011: Bell and the Marlins agreed on a three-year, $27 million deal with a vesting option for a fourth season.

  • October 20, 2012: As part of a three-team trade, the Marlins sent Bell to the Diamondbacks; the A's sent Yordy Cabrera to the Marlins; the A's send Cliff Pennington to the Diamondbacks; and the Diamondbacks sent Chris Young to the A's. (Got all that?)

    Bell went to the Diamondbacks along with $8 million of the $18 million he had coming to him—$9 million in both 2013 and 2014.

  • December 3, 2013: The Rays sent P Justin Choate and a player to be named to the D'Backs, who sent LHP David Holmberg to the Reds, with Heath Bell going from the D'Backs to the Rays.

  • May 4, 2014: The Rays designated Bell for assignment/releasing him.

  • June 13, 2014: Heath signed with the Yankees organization.

    May 16, 2014: Heath signed with the Orioles organization.

  • December 26, 2014: Bell signed with the Nationals organization.

  • March 23, 2015: Bell was released by the Washington Nationals.

PERSONAL:
 

  • Bell thrives in being out there on the mound when the game is on the line. He is that unusual case who has picked up velocity on his pitches as he has gotten older and wiser. He could throw 82-88 mph in high school, went to 88-90 mph in college, then tapered off for a while.

    Then in 2000, Bell learned the wonders of the long-toss—a technique whereby pitchers throw long distances to build arm strength —and of working his lower body. The combination has allowed him to elevate his fastball to the 93-98 mph range. He also has an 85-88 mph SLIDER.

    In 2005, Heath started spreading his fingers on his CHANGEUP. That led to a resurrection of his SPLIT-FINGER pitch which is now very effective against both lefthanded and righthanded hitters.

  • Heath said he only threw one changeup in the entire 2008 season. So in the spring of 2009, he worked on improving his change.

    Bell learned from Trevor Hoffman, who he was succeeding as Padres closer. Trevor has said that he believes a change-up can be more effective with a save on the line, because, in his view, hitters are more apt to be overly eager in those at-bats.

    And in 2009, taking over for Hoffman as closer for the Padres, Bell led the league in saves and had a 2.71 ERA. He blew six saves, including five in the second half. 

  • Bell likes to be put in pressure situations. He said for several years that he'd like to be a closer someday.

    "I'm not a stranger to closing or pressure situation. I've always liked that role and have thrived on that role. I like that when you come in the ninth inning, if you do you're job, the game is over. If you don't do your job, you've lost the game. It's all riding on you," Heath said.

    Of the lessons that he's learned from Trevor Hoffman, Bell said most of it isn't anything tangible that he can take with him to the mound. It's been more watching how Hoffman has gone about preparing to close games, mentally and physically.

    "The biggest thing I've learned is to go out and have fun, but then be serious when you have to be serious," Bell said. "Just the way he does it and how he sticks with his routine every day. Don't mix anything up."

    In 2009, Heath Bell would enter games to the song, "Blow Me Away" by Breaking Benjamin, which was featured in the video game "Halo 2." The opening of the song doesn't get played because it is too similar to that of the AC/DC's "Hells Bells," to which the iconic Hoffman used to enter.

  • Heath likes pitching a lot.

    "I've always enjoyed being a workhorse,” said Bell. “My dad was a Marine. His idea was that if you weren't hurt, you worked. I like being that guy.

    “I had to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to lead the team in appearances. In my mind, if I led a team in appearances, I had to be doing good. Annually, leading in appearances has always been one of my goals.”  (San Diego Union Tribune-6/25/09)

  • In 2009, Bell led the National League with 42 saves.

  • In 2011, Heath finished with 40 or more saves for the third consecutive seasons. Since the beginning of the 2009 season, Bell has more saves (129+) than any other pitcher in baseball. He ranks ahead of Brian Wilson of the Giants (121) and the Yankees' Mariano Rivera (120).

  • On May 5, 2012, Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen took Bell out of the closer role for a few games. Ozzie made it clear it was not a punishment, but a step back so Heath could correct his problems.

    "Bottom  line, I am not doing the job," he said. "It's not like I am hurt or anything. But I have to figure this out and get better. I owe that to everyone in here."

    Bell was 0-3 with an 11.42 ERA in 11 games. The righthander had allowed 15 hits in 8 2/3 innings with 10 walks and only six strikeouts.

    Bell never got his closer spot back for the rest of the season.

  • As of the start of the 2014 season, Heath had a career record of 37-31 with a 3.39 ERA, having allowed 47 home runs and 560 hits in 611 innings.
PITCHING:
 

  • July 22, 2001: Heath went on the D.L. with a sore shoulder.

  • May 2003: Bell suffered a stress fracture of his right elbow but pitched with it until it was finally detected in August, when he had surgery to correct the problem.
CAREER INJURY REPORT:
 
 
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