With the Major League Baseball season a month old at this point, it really is hard to start to get too into the numbers and who’s leading the division and what pitcher leads the league in ERA, because, well, these things change literally overnight this early. I mean, starting the week, 35-year old Aaron Harang led the National League in ERA and Clayton Kershaw hasn’t thrown a pitch since Australia, so while I might come off as getting carried away, please realize I do, in fact, understand just how much baseball is left to be played. That said, I don’t think it’s too early to assess where things are at.
I put out my Power Rankings in February and really received a lot of scrutiny over them. Which is fine. I realize some of the picks weren’t very popular, but at some point, someone wasn’t going to be happy over them.
I think one of the biggest surprises to this point of the year has to be the Milwaukee Brewers. Entering the week, the Brewers opened a seven-game road trip to St. Louis and Cincinnati, and ended up taking two outta three. At 20-8, it is fair to say the majority of people around baseball thought the Cardinals were more likely to have that record, but the Brewers are playing terrific baseball. I dubbed the Brew Crew to be one of the real surprises in baseball this year, but did not see this kind of start coming. I thought their pitching was very solid, especially the starting rotation. The bullpen, setting aside the struggles of Jim Henderson in the 9th, has been terrific as well. And offensively, Milwaukee has just about every bat going. The Brewers are fiery, their feisty and a bunch of fighters (no pun intended Carlos Gomez and Martin Maldonado). The Brewers have the pitching that can certainly keep this run going. I don’t think their ridiculous 100-win pace is anything they will achieve, and I fully expect them to come back to earth at some point, but don’t be surprised if the Brewers are still in the discussion as a divisional contender at the All-Star break.
Staying in the National League Central, so far the biggest disappointment to me has been the Pittsburgh Pirates. Six-games under starting the week doesn’t have me concerned yet, but I will be watching them closely. Normally, the Bucs putrid team average would concern me, but you really have to take any numbers in April, and throw them out the window, especially when you talk about individuals struggling. One primary reason, is pitchers have the upper hand this early. Normally, premier hitters in the northern part of the country especially struggle this time of year. I attribute most of it to the cold weather in April. So while the Pirates’ numbers are concerning, I will hold out getting carried away with them for another month. The Pirates are a hot ten days from righting the ship, and other than Milwaukee, no one in the NL Central is playing exceptional baseball yet.
Switching gears to the American League, the Minnesota Twins have been a pleasant surprise. I didn’t (and still don’t) give this team much a shot at much more than last place in baseball at this point, but it’s nice to see the Twins find some production from guys other than Joe Mauer. Through approximately 100 at bats, Chris Colabello has been terrific. Colabello led the International League in hitting last year at Triple-A, and it wasn’t close. So what Colabello is doing average wise is no surprise. Another solid signing the Twins made in the offseason that is paying dividends in more ways that one, is Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki’s offensive production has been great so far, and I think he will continue to do great work with what could be a decent pitching staff. The Twins pitching so far has not been good, but because they are averaging 5.5 runs per game, Minnesota is above .500. Again, I won’t get carried away with any of this, but it’s nice to see the youthful Twins learning what success feels like.
I thought the Yankees would be much, much better this season. I’ll leave my preview from March to speak for itself, but the Yankees are doing what I thought they’d do. Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury are getting on base and moving 90-feet along via the steal. And the new guys, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, are doing what I thought they’d do, and that’s drive them in. Yangervis Solarte has been one of baseball’s biggest surprises. A career, minor-league journeyman, Solarte may finally be sticking in New York. Everything you hear on him is he can’t keep his ridiculous pace up, and to this point, he is starting to come back to earth. But he is hitting, and with Jeter in and out of the lineup, and the health issues to Mark Texiera and others, it is refreshing for the Yanks to find production in unexpected places, especially given Solarte’s flexibility in the field.
The offense hasn’t been the only thing going well. The investment in Tanaka has so far harvested an incredible return. We’ll see what the youngster does when the days and nights start warming up in the Bronx and the ball flies out much faster, but for now, Tanaka has been steady and as good as you can ask for. I also like the progress Dellin Betances is making in the bullpen. The Yankees projected him to be a starter, and he didn’t really pan out, but he’s found a spot in their bullpen, and I like what I’ve seen from him. I’m going to make one exception to not getting carried away and realizing how much baseball is left to play. The Yankees are on pace to win approximately 97 games. I don’t think they get that far, but I don’t think 90 wins for this team is out of the question. I liked this team more than many, and I think they can, and will keep up what they’re doing.
Once the Braves lost Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen, a lot of people kind of wrote them off. They went out and signed Ervin Santana, who’s been nothing but stellar to this point, and David Hale has come up and pitched very well. This might sound crazy, but I’m more concerned about the Braves offense, than I am their pitching. And here’s why: consistency. The Braves of the past three or four years have been an all or nothing group. This team strikes out so much it is so hard to keep a rally going. If a pitcher is on, it will be a long night for Atlanta. They’ve got the hitters, they can score 10 runs a night, but they get so many waves and misses, the pressure will be on these pitchers just as often as the pressure will be off.
Starting the week at 17-7 is terrific, but I definitely don’t count out Washington making a run, and I could see Philadelphia and even Miami giving the Braves some troubles, Miami more so because of their pitching.
When talking about individuals standing out, it’s hard not to talk about Jose Abreu. Abreu may be one of the most prolific power hitters to leave Cuba yet. His 10 April homers and a league leading 31 RBIs was certainly impressive. Abreu impressed me at the World Baseball Classic last spring, and when the White Sox signed him, I thought he took this team from being a near-last place finisher to a .500 finisher, or better. It hurts the Sox (and me and my fantasy baseball teams) that Avisail Garcia went down to season ending shoulder surgery, but the White Sox are getting great production fellow Cubans Alexi Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo and Marcus Semien. Once they call up Matt Davidson, the White Sox have an awful lot of bats, and only a limited amount of lineup spaces available.
But back to Abreu. We’ve seen big start’s like his before, and we’ve seen the league adjust. I’m hopeful, and I think he is, a good enough hitter, even when the league trying to catch up to him, he’ll still be a step or two ahead. We’ll certainly find out.
When I look back at a lot of the predictions I made, I’m seeing many of those names at the top of the league for their respective categories. Other than Abreu, there isn’t one that stands out above another. When you look at the standings, you get the impression every division in baseball is wide-open at this point. You’d certainly expect that given we’re four and a half weeks into the season.
There’s been a lot of drama. We’ve seen a benches clearing brawl. We’ve seen a great portion of walk-off wins. The league’s pitching is tremendous. The hitting is obviously tremendous.
To this point, if you’re a baseball fan, you’re glad the warmer days of May are here and you have to be happy this brutal winter seems to be all but in the rearview mirror.
If readers are interested, I’ll be putting up a minor league report here in the coming days. I’m looking forward to this one.
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