Did You Know? (Hitting Edition)

As we get deep into a baseball season, it’s hard to keep up with everything going on day-to-day and when you step back and take a look, there will be several surprises or at least interesting tidbits that may change your outlook on a player for better or worse. Here are 20 hitting tidbits you may not have realized:

Did You Know…

• Alex Avila has nine home runs in 134 PA, trailing only Salvador Perez and Austin Hedges (11 each), who have done their damage in 220 and 185 PA, respectively
• Yadier Molina has 11 HR+SB (6 and 5) in 209 PA, tying his 2016 total done in 581 PA
• None of Anthony Rizzo, Miguel Cabrera, Wil Myers, Jose Abreu, Eric Hosmer, Chris Davis, Hanley Ramirez, or Edwin Encarnacion are among the top 10 fantasy 1B…

• …but Ryan Zimmerman, Mark Reynolds, Justin Smoak, Travis Shaw, Justin Bour, and Eric Thames are, while Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, Daniel Murphy, and Freddie Freeman round out the top 10
• There are 24 players with at least 6 HR and 6 SB so it’s not super-rare, but the fact that Leury Garcia, Whit Merrifield, and Taylor Motter are among them is undoubtedly surprising
• Marwin Gonzalez ranks 7th at 3B, 12th at 1B, and 25th at OF thanks to a tremendous .314/.409/.636 line with 12 HR and 3 SB in 166 PA
• Guess the top-rated SS on ESPN’s Player Rater… got your guess? Wrong, it’s this guy!
• OK, guess who’s second… nope, not Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, or Corey Seager. It’s actually Trea Turner despite his underwhelming .261 AVG
• Turner’s 18 SBs go a long way; his 5 HR and 35 R don’t hurt, either
• I won’t make you guess again, but I’ll point out that Zack Cozart is third and in the midst of a career year: .351/.436/.623, 9 HR, 2 SB, 36 R, and 33 RBI
• Eduardo Nunez is backing up his standout 2016 (.288 AVG, 16 HR, 40 SB) with a .297 AVG, 4 HR, and 14 SB so far
• An ugly .145/.242/.291 line vs. LHP in 62 PA hasn’t stopped Jake Lamb from taking the top spot at 3B so far thanks to an MLB-best 53 RBI as well as 15 HR and 3 SB
• Lamb’s 1.093 OPS vs. RHP is 3rd-best in the league (min. 150 PA)
• Joey Gallo slots 11th among 3B despite a .200 AVG thanks to 17 HR and a sneaky 4 SB
• Ender Inciarte might not have gotten enough attention for his .341/.396/.440 second half last year, but he’s getting noticed for a .306/.360/.429 line this year which has him 9th among OF
• He has already tied his career-high of 6 HR with an uncharacteristic power surge, though AVG should be your focus with him (.359 since May 1st after a .230 in April)
• Aaron Hicks has already matched his HR total (8) and eclipsed his SB total (7 to 3) from last year in half as many PA (179 to 361)
• Avisail Garcia had a blistering April (1.029 OPS, 5 HR) fueled by a .443 BABIP, but he has stayed productive with a .298/.336/.484 line since May 1st including a more believable .359 BABIP
• The AL and NL HR leaders are just as we drew them up: Aaron Judge (18) in the AL; Scott Schebler and Zimmerman (17) in the NL
• Schebler is looking a lot like Cincinnati’s 2017 Adam Duvall while Duvall himself has built on his big 2016 breakout (.272 AVG, 14 HR, 4 SB after .241, 33, 6 last year)

I’ll do a pitching one soon, too.