There are some odd stat lines when you look across the leaderboards in baseball. There are top tier players with awful stats and players with great stats coming out of nowhere.
It's almost two months into the season and more panic is setting in. Here are some of the ones standing out and what it means the rest of the way.
Kevin Gausman (Giants): Gausman is pitching like an ace. He is 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA, 6.5 percent walk rate, 1.53 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. He has a .218 wOBA and a 2.88 xERA. He has a .230 BABIP and 89.1 percent left-on base percentage, but he looks legit. Leaving Baltimore was the best thing for him. Gausman has pitched 44.2 innings on the road with a 0.81 ERA and a .226 wOBA. At home, he has pitched 20 innings with a 3.15 ERA and .197 wOBA. Gausman has pitched against the Padres three times and pitched 19 innings, allowing 14 hits, three earned runs, walked three and struck out 18. Gausman is for real.
Adolis García (Rangers): Is there a bigger surprise than Garcia? He's the best waiver wire pickup so far in deeper formats. He is 28 years old and showed power and speed in the minors, but showed poor plate discipline. Garcia has a line of .290/.327/.613 with 24 runs, 15 home runs, 40 RBIs and five stolen bases. He has a 27.9 percent strikeout rate and 4.8 percent walk rate. Garcia has a barrel percentage of 19.1 percent, which is in the 98th percentile. There's a lot of red on his Statcast page. Garcia has improved in May. He had a 33.8 percent strikeout rate in the first month and it's down to 23.4 percent in May.
Eugenio Suárez (Reds): Suarez is batting .150 with a .586 OPS. At least he has 24 runs, 10 home runs and 24 RBIs, but that batting average is a huge drain. He has a 33.7 percent strikeout rate, a career worst and a 7.8 percent walk rate, the lowest since his rookie season. Suarez has an xBA of .186 and a BABIP of .160. Last season, he had a .214 BABIP and he will have lower marks due to his fly ball tendencies. Suarez isn't a buy low.
Francisco Lindor (Mets): It has been a miserable start for Lindor. He has a line of .185/.294/.272 with 19 runs, three home runs, nine RBIs and four stolen bases. He doesn't look comfortable at the plate. Lindor has a 15.1 percent strikeout rate, 12.3 percent walk rate and is hitting the ball hard. He's had some bad luck with a .203 BABIP, but he's hitting too many ground balls with a 49.6 percent rate and only a 13.6 percent line drive rate. Lindor has a hard hit percentage of 42.2 percent, which is a career best. The problem is a 4.7 percent barrel rate. Players often come to New York with high expectations and start slowly. There's nothing alarming in the profile to suggest this will continue this poorly.
Keston Hiura (Brewers): Hiura was one of the worst players in baseball to begin the season. The Brewers had no choice but to send Hiura down. As expected, Hiura went down to Triple-A and lit it up. He had a .438/.526./.906 line with eight runs, six doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs and two stolen bases. He struck out 34.2 percent of the time with a 10.2 percent walk rate. Hiura made his return Monday to the majors and went 1-for-3 with a run, one walk and struck out twice. He didn't start on Tuesday and came into the game and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout. Hiura mentioned how he took a few days off when he was sent down to the minors. His mother has cancer and he spent some time with her, including Mother's Day. It's difficult to gauge how these things can affect players, but it could have been something weighing on his mind a lot. We tend to think athletes should power through these things, but they are human beings and it could have been a factor. Hiura still is going to have a high strikeout rate. He has the power potential and can chip in some steals. He won't hit for much average and we can say that about many players that could add power. If he's available in a 12-team league or larger, I would add him. He's not a lock to turn it around, but it's worth taking a shot. Just be ready to move on quickly if the struggles continue.
Kyle Hendricks (Cubs): Hendricks was boosted in drafts this season due to his ability to throw innings. Despite the lack of dominance, Hendricks had an ERA of 3.46 or lower since 2016 and a WHIP of 1.15 or less in the last three seasons. Hendricks is 4-4 with a 4.74 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 18.8 percent strikeout rate and 4.9 percent walk rate. Hendricks has a career .280 BABIP and it's .333 this season. He has allowed 11 home runs in 49.1 innings and a 21.6 HR/FB rate is well above his career mark of 11.6 percent. In three of his last four starts, Hendricks has allowed one earned run and pitched at least 6.2 innings. He needs to be precise with his location since he averages 86.7 miles per hour with his fastball. He might not meet his ADP, but he will be solid the rest of the way.