We spend months and months -- essentially, every second
since the 2018 World Series ended -- looking forward to the season, making
predictions, assuming certain things to be true, and then the first week of games
comes and wipes out any certainties we thought we knew. This is, of course, why
predictions are always so wrong, and why this is all so infinitely fascinating.
So, today at The Thirty, we look at the most surprising
individual performance from each team over the season’s first 10 games or so.
Some of these are positive, some of them are negative, but they’re all out of
character in one way or another. Is this each player’s new base level of
performance? Fortunately, we have five more months to find out.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
BLUE JAYS: LOURDES
GURRIEL JR., SS
He was one of the team’s pleasant surprises in his short stint in the Majors in
2018, and the Blue Jays saw him as a lineup mainstay this season. But he has
had a rough start, going 2-for-27 with just one walk and finding himself on the
bench Sunday. He is still a
fan favorite, though.
ORIOLES: DAVID HESS, RHP
He may have had some trouble keeping the ball in the ballpark against the
Yankees on Sunday, but if you thought he would ignite the first controversy of
new manager Brandon Hyde’s career by being removed with a no-hitter intact
against the Blue Jays, you are likely related to him.
RAYS: BLAKE SNELL, LHP
Omitting “openers,” of the three pitchers who have started multiple games for
the Rays, Snell has been the worst. Tyler Glasnow and Charlie
Morton have given up only three total runs in their four
combined starts, one of the many reasons the Rays find themselves in first
place.
RED SOX: CHRIS SALE, LHP
There’s no answer other than Sale here. Here’s a stat: Sale has given up only
one fewer home run (four) so far than he has strikeouts (five).
YANKEES: CLINT FRAZIER, OF
The story of the Yankees’ first 10 games has been injuries, but for all the
hope for a strong duo at first in Luke Voit and Greg Bird,
they’re hitting .200 with three homers between them. On the other side of the
ledger, Frazier has been splendid after being called up to replace the
injured Giancarlo Stanton, hitting three homers
over the weekend.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
CENTRAL
INDIANS: HANLEY
RAMIREZ, DH
Jose Ramirez is the second-best-hitting Ramirez on his own team. His
.194/.235/.258 line pales in comparison to Hanley’s .238/.385/.524.
ROYALS: ALEX GORDON, LF
Hey, look who’s off to a nice start: Gordon, who has a .929 OPS and leads the
team in every offensive category. Plus, he leads the Majors in hit by pitches.
TIGERS: JORDAN
ZIMMERMANN, RHP
Did you see this coming? The veteran right-hander -- who is making more money
than Robinson Cano this year -- has been brilliant in both his starts, giving
up only one run in 13 2/3 innings. Keep this up, and the Tigers might have an
actual trade chip on their hands.
TWINS: WILLIANS
ASTUDILLO, C
Even all those fans who had assigned cult-hero status to Astudillo didn’t see a
.500 batting average coming, with four extra-base hits in his first 14 at-bats.
Heck, he even walked.
WHITE SOX: TIM ANDERSON, SS
Move over, Mike Trout: The best hitter in baseball is Anderson, who has put up
a .560/.577/.800 line. (OK, so Trout is actually slugging higher than that.)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
WEST
ANGELS: ALBERT PUJOLS, 1B
Fine, so everything Mike Trout does is shocking and
amazing. But can we note that Pujols is not off to a terrible
start? The .368 on-base percentage he’s currently posting would be his highest
since he arrived in Anaheim.
ASTROS: JOSÉ ALTUVE, 2B
He’s surely going to be fine, but I've got to say, it’s downright strange
seeing Altuve's batting average starting with a 2.
A'S: JURICKSON
PROFAR, 2B
Surely, the A’s were expecting a lot more out of Profar than only five hits in
his first 47 plate appearances. He’s hitting .106, and he’s only walked once.
MARINERS: A LOT OF SLUGGERS
The Mariners are bruisers all of a sudden. They have four players with four or
more homers: Jay Bruce (who has only seven hits, but
five have left the yard), Daniel
Vogelbach, Tim Beckham and Domingo
Santana. Meanwhile, Edwin
Encarnacion has only two homers … but a .447 on-base
percentage.
RANGERS: HUNTER PENCE, OF
He’s not an everyday player anymore, but it’s still a pleasant surprise to see
Pence on a roster, let alone hitting .333.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
EAST
BRAVES: DANSBY
SWANSON, SS
The Braves have a lot of players smashing the ball right now, but no one’s been
more surprising than Swanson, who is hitting .346/.471/.731. He’s making up for
the early struggles of Ronald Acuña
Jr., who is hitting .129.
MARLINS: SANDY
ALCANTARA, RHP
Say what you will about the Stanton and Christian Yelich trades, but it sure
looks like the Marlins won the Marcell Ozuna deal.
Alcantara, who came from the Cardinals in the Ozuna swap, has given up only two
runs in his two starts. While we’re here: Did you notice that Martín Prado is
hitting .476? Did you notice Prado was back around at all?
METS: BRANDON NIMMO, OF
The two hitters you thought the Mets would be able to count on early were Robinson Canó and
Nimmo, but combined, they're batting below .200. Nimmo has especially
struggled, as he has 17 strikeouts in 36 plate appearances. But Pete Alonso, Michael
Conforto and Jeff McNeil are
more than making up for them.
NATIONALS: TREVOR
ROSENTHAL, RHP
He was expected to be a key part of the Nationals’ bullpen this year, but you
literally could not do worse than what he has done so far. He has faced eight
hitters, and all of them have reached. (Seven have scored.) He has an ERA of
infinity.
PHILLIES: MAIKEL FRANCO, 3B
Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins have
gotten all the headlines, and with good reason, but Franco appears to have
found his batting eye in the offseason. The free swinger has already walked
nine times so far and is getting on base at a .500 clip.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CENTRAL
BREWERS: JESÚS AGUILAR, 1B
He was the happiest surprise of last year, but he’s turned into a pumpkin so
far. He’s batting .148 and still doesn’t have an extra-base hit.
CARDINALS: ALEX REYES, RHP
Two of the three relievers the Cardinals thought they could count on this
season were Andrew Miller and Reyes, but they’ve
both struggled. They’ve given up 11 runs in a combined 6 2/3 innings, and
Reyes has already
been sent down to Triple-A Memphis.
CUBS: JASON HEYWARD, OF
Just about everything has been a mess for the Cubs so far, so let’s focus on
something positive: Heyward is hitting the ball with authority for the first
time since joining the team, batting .333/.400/.633 with three homers. It’s
everything else that’s bad right now.
PIRATES: JUNG HO KANG, 3B
The Pirates waited a long time, through some considerable ugliness, to get Kang
back. But his strikeout rate is way up, and he’s only hitting .154.
REDS: YASIEL PUIG, OF
He might be able to fight off a
whole team of Pirates, but right now, he can’t hit a baseball.
He’s hitting .133 and has only one extra-base hit in 32 plate appearances.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
WEST
D-BACKS: ZACK GREINKE, RHP
We’ve been focusing on some other struggling veteran pitchers, but Greinke has
been awfully wobbly so far. He has somehow given up six homers so far and has a
9.31 ERA.
DODGERS: CODY
BELLINGER, 1B
He goes on streaks every once in a while, but no one saw a heater like this one
coming. He leads the Majors in home runs (seven) and RBIs (18) and remember --
he's only 23.
GIANTS: BUSTER POSEY, C
You might have expected some of the Giants’ older players to slow down, but you
figured Posey would be fine. But the veteran catcher is hitting .200 and has
only two extra-base hits (both doubles) in 28 plate appearances.
PADRES: JOEY LUCCHESI, LHP
There was considerable optimism about Lucchesi heading into this season, but
his two scoreless starts -- both wins, with 13 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings --
is an eyebrow-raising performance.
ROCKIES: THE OFFENSE
German
Márquez and Kyle Freeland have
been strong on the mound as expected, but the offense has stopped cold in its
tracks. How in the world have the Rockies only hit six homers so far?
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