American League Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 4 April Standings

It is one month into the 2017 season, and the league has already thrown a number of surprises our way. While April was as tumultuous as years past, it feels as though that early season rust is dissipating. Teams and players alike have begun to settle into regular season form with some standout performances mixed in across divisions.

So far this season we’ve looked at hot and cold starts and individual statistical standouts. Now let’s look at the month in review. This week will highlight the current American League standings and preview of how May is shaping up.

*All statistics as of end of day 04/29*

AL East

(Image Courtesy of AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

As expected, the AL east has been one of the most contested divisions in baseball. The Yankees, and standout rookie Aaron Judge leads the division with Baltimore right on their heels. Judge has been excellent so far this season, setting the rookie home run record with ten in April. He’s more than living up to his projected power potential.

Concerns about Baltimore’s pitching staff with the loss of Chris Tillman hasn’t slowed the team down. Strong contributions from both Wade Miley and Dylan Bundy have kept the Orioles in games as their power packed lineup continues to mash.

Boston and Tampa Bay are both sporting 12 wins in the middle of the division, but don’t expect this to continue. The Red Sox have been led by utterly dominant performances by Chris Sale. Boston’s lineup has the second best team average in baseball, but is last in home runs, and bottom five in RBIs. Expect the team that generated the most offense in baseball last year to pick up its pace and its win total in May.

Tampa Bay and Toronto round out the bottom of the division, but have had two very different starts. While the Rays have shown impressive resilience behind a young core of players, Toronto is floundering. It’s hard to predict what’s next for the Jays, but below average pitching and an anemic offense don’t exactly spell future success.

AL Central

After offloading their top talent in the offseason, Chicago has decided it would like to be in first place anyways. Struggling stars Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier have contributed little, while Avisaíl García has slashed .376 / .418 / 1.053. Best bet is Chicago comes back to earth soon, but then again, no one expected this either.

Cleveland’s slow start to the season has been met with a recent resurgence and plenty of optimism. The defending AL champs have three of their five starters clicking on all cylinders with lock-down contributions from the bullpen. The not-so-surprising star of the offense has been Jose Ramirez. After a breakout campaign in 2016, Ramirez has slashed .333 / .388 / .997 with six home runs and 21 RBIs so far this season.

(Image Courtesy of Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports)

Minnesota and Detroit are locked up at 11 wins each and have continued to press the front-runners. The Twins have seen an outstanding come-back performance from Ervin Santana who currently holds a 0.77 ERA through four starts.

While Byron Buxton has continued to struggle at the plate, Minnesota has seen great contributions elsewhere. Young guns Miguel Sano and Max Kepler are both off to excellent starts with strong averages and decent pop.

Detroit is in a bit of a tail spin after dropping its last four games of the month. They will have one more opportunity to snap that in April against a hot Chicago White Sox team.

Justin Verlander and the rotation are off to a shaky start. The good news is Justin Upton has looked every bit the player Detroit expected when they acquired him last year. Between Upton and the cast of veterans on this squad, the Tigers should have plenty of run support for a struggling rotation.

Kansas City needs a turnaround, and fast. The Royals have seen minuscule production from an offense that has them last in the league in the run category. An impressive start from Jason Vargas and solid hurling from Danny Duffy has kept the royals pitching numbers respectable, but it’s not enough.

Kansas City is facing the potential departure of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Vargas at the end of the season. If the Royals are going to make one final run with this group, they will need a whole other level of urgency heading into May.

AL West

(Image Courtesy of Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)

In the West, it’s been the Astro’s and the rest. The Astros are off to an excellent start in 2017 and have received contributions from every part of the club. While it’s easy to be excited by the young talent in the lineup, it’s actually the rotation leading the way.

The resurgence of 2015 Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel has been instrumental to a rotation ranking third in ERA. If the remainder of the rotation can keep pace with Keuchel’s great start, it could be a runaway race in the west.

The Angels are actually the surprise second-place team in this division. The Angels were riding a five-game hot streak until it was broken up by Carlos Gomez and the Rangers. Mike Trout continues to quietly be Mike Trout slashing .365 / .436 / 1.155 with seven home runs.

In typical Angels fashion, other than Trout, everything has been mediocre. The offseason acquisitions, the pitching and essentially every other player has been average to start the year. It is overall an impressive start for Los Angeles, especially considering the myriad of injuries the team has faced.

The bottom of the division is essentially a three-way tie between Oakland, Texas and Seattle. It’s clear the Mariners and Rangers are underperforming, while Oakland has overachieved considering the loss of Sonny Gray.

There have been some impressive individual performances such as Seattle’s James Paxton and Mitch Haniger. Oakland’s Khris Davis has put on an impressive power display thus far, and Carlos Gomez just hit for the cycle with Texas. It’s still early in the season, so I would expect at least one, if not two of these teams, to challenge the top of the division before the year ends.

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