AL Notes – A’s Red-Hot, Royals And Red Sox Resilient, Yanks Stumbling Offensively

Conclusions cannot be drawn about some clubs after a strong April start, but through three weeks of the Major League season, the Oakland A’s are the only favorite that resides in the top spot of their division, while the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox stumbled out of the gate and are only now beginning to find their footing.

The A’s lead the West with a 14-8 record but are the definition of streakiness, losing their first six games and rebounding with a league-best 13 game winning streak before losing 8-1 to Baltimore on Sunday. First baseman Matt Olson is leading the charge with six home runs and a .319 average, but the surprise has been the resurgence of second baseman Jed Lowrie, who missed nearly all of the last two seasons with the New York Mets due to a variety of injuries, but signed a minor league deal with Oakland and is hitting .293 and leads the club with 17 RBI’s.

Seattle is in second place at 13-9, but does not appear ready to promote top prospect Jarred Kelenic anytime soon. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto says the 21-year-old outfielder will be recalled in the “not-too-distant future”, but that the club is hesitant to mess with the current outfield of Mitch Haniger, Taylor Trammell, Ty France, and 2020 AL Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis.

Player Standard Batting
Rk	Name	Age	Tm	G	R	H	HR	RBI ▼	BA	OBP
2	J.D. Martinez	33	BOS	21	19	30	7	21	.370	.446
3	Kyle Seager*	33	SEA	22	7	20	3	19	.235	.290
4	Rafael Devers*	24	BOS	21	14	21	6	18	.269	.356
5	Adam Eaton*	32	CHW	19	15	18	3	18	.243	.333
6	Nate Lowe*	25	TEX	22	10	21	5	18	.256	.351
7	José Abreu	34	CHW	21	11	18	5	17	.225	.312
8	Mitch Haniger	30	SEA	22	17	26	5	17	.292	.330
9	Jed Lowrie#	37	OAK	20	13	22	3	17	.293	.361
10	Matt Olson*	27	OAK	19	11	22	6	17	.319	.392
11	Maikel Franco	28	BAL	21	7	20	3	16	.253	.330
12	Randal Grichuk	29	TOR	21	10	21	4	16	.292	.350
13	Shohei Ohtani*	26	LAA	19	14	22	7	16	.286	.321
14	Carlos Santana#	35	KCR	20	9	16	4	16	.229	.360
15	Nelson Cruz	40	MIN	19	12	20	7	15	.323	.362

In the Central, the Kansas City Royals lead the White Sox by two games with a 14-7 record after winning five straight and sweeping the Detroit Tigers. Starter Danny Duffy currently leads the AL with a 0.39 ERA and 3-1 record and veterans Salvador Perez and Carlos Santana lead with club with five homers.

Chicago has been getting great starting pitching from Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodon, but their offense has the best run differential in the American League (+21) and is riding the wave of the hot hitting of journeyman Yermin Mercedes, who started the season 8-for-8, won AL Player of the Week and currently leads the junior circuit with a .414 average.

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In the East, the Red Sox have been .500 over the last 10 games but still hold a 2.5 game lead over Tampa, thanks mostly to their resurgent offense led by Rafael Devers (.269, 6 HR’s), Xander Bogaerts (.366 average) and slugger J.D. Martinez, who leads the Majors with 21 RBI’s and is tied for the league lead with seven HRs.

The story continues to be the sluggish offense of the Bronx Bombers, who are last in the AL with 75 runs scored. The Yankees received some much-needed relief in the form of the Cleveland Indians last weekend, getting two HR’s from Giancarlo Stanton and another great start from ace Gerrit Cole, but even after winning three of four against the Tribe, New York is still tied with Baltimore in last place and struggling to find consistency at the plate.

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