Stuff Worth Noting in 2016

As of May 22...

After starting 25-6, the Cubs have gone 4-7. So shut up.

Bryce Harper had 31 walks. That's four fewer than . . . the entire Kansas City Royals roster.

Last year, Jon Jay managed five doubles one home run and no steals for the Cardinals. As of May 22 he had contributed 12 doubles, two steals and a homer for the Padres.

The Mariners have 18 road wins after 43 games. Last year they didn't get their 18^th road win until game 77.

Injuries limited Hunter Pence to nine homers and 40 RBI last year. He's at seven homers and 32 RBI already this season.

According to Baseball Prospectus calculations, the fifth, sixth, and seventh most valuable hitters on the Phillies are pitchers.

Through August 6th last year, Jackie Bradley had popped one pair of homers and a single double among his six hits. Now in a 26-game hitting streak, he has eight homers and 10 doubles among his 52 safeties. And we're two-and-a-half months from August 6th.

Cardinals rookie Jeremy Hazelbaker is four years older than Mike Trout, who is playing in his fifth season and has 149 home runs. 

Dee Gordon and AJ Pierczynski were stars last season. In 2016, Gordon is banned for 80 games. Pierzynski is hitting .211 without power.

Cameron Maybin hit .194/.313/.367 in a month of rehab games, then .600/.652/.750 in a week of Major League games.

Albert Pujols hit .312 or better for 10 straight years. He hit .244 last season and is at .221 this year.

The Phillies are six games over .500 despite being outscored by 31 runs. 

Tanner Roark won four games all last season and allowed 17 home runs in 111 innings. We're just in May of 2016 but he's already won three games and limited opponents to three homers in half as many innings.

Second basemen are outhitting left fielders this season by 28 points of OPS. That's a 78 point reversal of the norm.

Rockie Rookie Trevor Story was the big story in April with 10 homers, 20 RBI and 19 runs scored in April. In May, he's hit just two homers with 11 RBI and eight runs scored. Of course he's still the Story, but he's also still the story, because this month he's batting .313. Add it all together and annualize it: the 23-year-old shortstop is hitting .285-48-124 with 44 doubles, 16 triples and 108 runs scored. Quite a Story.

Dallas Keuchel (first in Cy Young voting last season), David Price (second), Sonny Gray (third) and Chris Archer (fifth) combined for a 2.71 ERA in 2015. They are at 5.70 today.

Some of this information came from Baseball Prospectus and Sports on Earth.