Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but one full month into the season, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.
First Place: The Athletics (17-14)
Top Position Player: Shea Langeliers (1.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Aaron Civale/Jack Perkins (0.6 fWAR)
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Who woulda thought? The Don’t-Call-Them-Sacramento Athletics lead a tight race atop the AL West through the end of April with the third-best record in the American League. Now, that’s more an indictment on how bad the Junior Circuit has been so far, but the A’s have made it work with series wins over the Yankees, Mariners, and Rangers.
While their calling card entering the year was a sneakily stacked lineup, they’ve actually been slightly below average despite some big individual performances. Shea Langeliers has been the best catcher in the AL through April, posting a 165 wRC+ in 30 games, but the real standout here is former Mets prospect and right fielder Carlos Cortes, who’s hitting .391 with a wRC+ of 210 in 78 plate appearances. Think they’re regretting letting him leave in minor league free agency over in Queens?
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The reasons behind the offense’s early struggles are a more tame start for Nick Kurtz (.425 SLG but a 23.7% BB%), an underwhelming Jacob Wilson (85 wRC+), and a downright terrible start for both Lawrence Butler (51 wRC+, -0.3 fWAR) and Brent Rooker, who’s currently on the injured list after a nightmarish first 15 games.
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The pitching has been a mixed bag as well. J.T. Ginn, Aaron Civale, and Jeffrey Springs have all been solid in the starting rotation, while they’ve gotten mixed results from old friend Luis Severino. The only weak link seems to be Jacob Lopez, whose peripherals match his high ERA and negative K-BB%.
Hogan Harris has been a star in their bullpen, shouldering a heavy workload (17 appearances) with a 2.65 ERA, but he’s a candidate for regression with his high walk rate and LOB%. Mark Leiter Jr. is struggling as their setup man, but closer Joel Kuhnel, Scott Barlow, and former Yankees prospect Luis Medina have produced for a league-average bullpen.
That’s been the story of the A’s so far, perfectly average in every aspect. That wouldn’t be so bad if it sustained.
Second Place: Seattle Mariners (16-16)
Top Position Player: Randy Arozarena (1.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Logan Gilbert/George Kirby (0.8 fWAR)
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Good teams have slow starts every single year, but how long they last can be a big indicator of just how good that team is. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, or even the Mets rebounded to sneak into the playoffs, but they all sit below .500 after April. It’s even cost a few managers their jobs.
For Seattle, they’ve rebounded from an 8-13 start to be at .500 as the month ends, and the reason why they’ve started playing like the division favorite they are is that their slumbering offense is finally waking up. All of a sudden, they’re seventh in wRC+ despite agonizingly slow starts from Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor, and Julio Rodriguez. All three remain below average, but have rebounded from being among the worst hitters in baseball through two weeks.
Brendan Donovan was mashing and looked like a slam-dunk all-star starter before getting hurt, Dominic Canzone and Cole Young were breaking out as fixtures at right field and second base, and Randy Arozarena has been as solid as ever. The fact that they have such a deep lineup, even with the heart of the order struggling, makes you feel good about them still winning this division.
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They’ve only needed five starting pitchers so far, and four of them are doing good work. The quartet of Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, Emerson Hancock, and George Kirby all have microscopic walk rates and good results to back it up. It’s aesthetically pleasing for a starter to be filling the strike zone and being effective. The weak link is, shockingly, the typically steady Luis Castillo, who’s been downright bad since his strong start against the Yankees at the end of March with a 6.35 ERA in 28 innings over six starts.
Seattle’s bullpen is fourth-ranked in baseball, which doesn’t match the eye test. I vividly remember their collapse against the Padres on April 15th and their near-collapse a few days later against Texas, but they’ve been awesome aside from that. Cole Wilcox is struggling, and the disaster in San Diego skews Andrés Muñoz’s numbers, but they’ve gotten strong months from Jose A. Ferrer, Eduard Bazardo, and Matt Brash, who’ve pitched to soft contact with efficacy.
It’s hard to see a team in this division that can get to the Mariners’ level if the big bats start hitting.
Third Place: Texas Rangers (15-16)
Top Position Player: Josh Jung (1.0 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Jacob deGrom (0.9 fWAR)
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We just saw the Rangers deep in the heart of Texas, as the Yankees took two of three from another middling AL West club that hasn’t been able to gain momentum through the first month of the season.
The offense is mediocre, ranking around 20th in most categories. Josh Jung is fully breaking out after a rough first week, and Brandon Nimmo has been great, even though he went down with a hamstring injury on Wednesday. Outside of them, they have Corey Seager barely above the Mendoza line, young guys like Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford (who’s now on the IL) struggling, and vets like Kyle Higashioka and Jake Burger in deep funks.
As for the rotation, even with Nathan Eovaldi struggling until his gem against the Yankees on Wednesday, they’ve gotten peak Jacob deGrom and a strong start from young Kumar Rocker to steady an inconsistent starting group. Jack Leiter’s been up and down, as has offseason trade acquisition MacKenzie Gore, but there’s great upside with this group.
Texas has the best bullpen in baseball (2.82 ERA), and we saw that with how the Yanks struggled to get insurance runs late. Jalen Beeks, Jakob Junis, Tyler Alexander, and Jacob Latz all have ERAs under 2.10 while being used in at least 13 games. They don’t rank very well in strikeout or ground-ball rate, and the staff’s FIP is over a full run higher, so things might change in this regard soon, but it’s been their biggest strength early on.
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Last Place (tie): Los Angeles Angels (12-20)
Top Position Player: Mike Trout (1.5 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: José Soriano (1.2 fWAR)
The Angels haven’t been very good, but that’s not all too surprising. Despite how dynamic they looked against the Yankees in the four-game split, they’ve been the usual mediocre team around that.
It’s the Mike Trout Show on offense, as the future Hall of Famer is proving that his sensational series at Yankee Stadium wasn’t a one-off, posting an even 1.000 OPS through 31 games. Behind him, the two most valuable players are Zach Neto and… Oswald Peraza? He’s still hitting well after his Revenge Series? Even with a good offense to start, the likes of Josh Lowe, Logan O’Hoppe, and Nolan Schanuel are in the dumps. At least Jorge Soler is back from his suspension.
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On the pitching side, José Soriano has arguably been the best pitcher in the American League, as even his so-so start against the White Sox couldn’t raise his ERA above one. Jack Kochanowicz and Reid Detmers are pitching decently, but the highest-paid pitcher in the rotation (Yusei Kikuchi) has been ineffective and is now injured.
The bullpen has been an absolute travesty, ranking 29th in ERA. Their closer to start the year, Jordan Romano, fell apart in the four-game series in the Bronx and has since been released. Chase Silseth is by far the most effective reliever they have, as most of their high-leverage arms have gone up in absolute flames to start the season.
Last Place (tie): Houston Astros (12-20)
Top Position Player: Yordan Alvarez (2.2 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Hunter Brown/Peter Lambert (0.5 fWAR)
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This is another team the Yanks have already seen this year, which reminds me that 16 of the team’s 31 games this year have been against this particular division. Only 15 of the final 131 are, so hope you enjoyed these teams while they lasted. The mediocrity of the AL West has allowed the Astros to start slowly once again, while not getting completely buried at only four games back of the first-place A’s. This happens every single year, and while Houston came up short last year, they won’t have as big a hill to climb if this division doesn’t shape up.
Their offense is one of the best in the sport and is keeping them in every game. Yordan Alvarez is finally healthy and showing why he’s one of the best pure hitters in baseball, looking like Aaron Judge’s biggest early competition for AL MVP. Christian Walker’s bat is back from the dead, Christian Vazquez has been great in a small sample, and even guys like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and Isaac Paredes have been adequate despite not hitting to their best capabilities.
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Hunter Brown made two very good starts and then went on the shelf in the first week of April, yet he still shares a lead in fWAR on this abhorrent pitching staff. The other guy is 29-year-old Peter Lambert, who was previously released in spring training and has thrown 15.1 innings. Multiple starters are on the shelf, including Tatsyua Imai, whose transition to America has been nightmarish so far. Spencer Arrighetti (2.00 ERA) has been their best starter since he was recalled, as veterans like Lance McCullers Jr. and Mike Burrows have ERAs over six. And yet, this would at least be passable if…
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… the bullpen wasn’t a complete and utter disaster. They have, by far, the worst bullpen in baseball, and aside from Steven Okert and Kai-Wei Teng, they’ve all been bad. Closer Josh Hader hasn’t thrown a single pitch, batting biceps tendinitis. Bryan Abreu has an ERA just under 13, AJ Blubaugh, Enyel De Los Santos, and Ryan Weiss are struggling, and even fill-ins like Colton Gordon and Roddery Muñoz can’t consistently get outs. A turnaround is impossible with a bullpen this bad.
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