Now that we’re a month into the 2019 season it’s time to start revisiting some of the analytics we’ve looked at during the first month. On tap again this week is the Weighted On-Base Average minus Expected Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA-xwOBA). The progressively weighted values wOBA places on At-Bat results is more indicative of underlying skills. I’ve also included Batting Average minus Expected Batting Average (BA-xBA) to add some context. The reason we’re comparing actual to expected rates is to remove some of the luck that naturally occurs in baseball. Feel free to dig into Statcast’s wOBA-xwOBA leaderboard for yourself. Don’t be afraid to poke around some of the other expected metrics while you’re there.

Normally I’d cut the list off at ten but I have a soft spot for J.D. Martinez. A few guys that pop out in both columns are Franmil Reyes , Starling Marte , and Jesús Aguilar . Franmil was a name I mentioned with this same metric last month. He’s still killing the ball and the results are starting to come. Marte hasn’t had the smoothest start to 2019, so this is encouraging for his owners. The last few days have been an oasis of hope for folks rostering Aguilar. His 2018 had ups and downs, too, so some patience is perhaps warranted in his case.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin with the wOBA overachievers.

Mitch Garver had a nice couple of weeks, but those numbers were probably unsustainable. Robinson Chirinos has always offered somewhat empty power. Raimel Tapia has his truthers, though even they would admit the contact hasn’t been ferocious. Victor Robles could be another hitter whose approach and speed may result in better numbers than his contact metrics indicate. Most of the other names on there are performing exceptionally and would have somewhat exceptional numbers based on Statcast expectations, so I don’t worry about them as much.

Now that we have a month’s worth of data we can begin to put some stock in what we’re seeing. There’s still a ways to go before the sample is truly reliable. It’s still good to see who’s performing up to par and who do we need to monitor closely. If you aren’t already familiar with Statcast spend some time digging around on the site. It’s a must for any competitive player these days