Eye-popping MLB numbers at the quarter mark
With major league teams at, nearing or just exceeding the 40-game mark, USA TODAY Sports' Jorge L. Ortiz breaks down the eye-popping numbers through a quarter of the season – and which paces may hold up well into summer:
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Astros (27) and Royals (26) on pace for 100-plus wins: With winning percentages in the .650 range, Houston and Kansas City have been leading their respective divisions and project to better than 104 victories for the season. They've been going about it in diametrically different ways, and that may be an indication of which one figures to sustain its success.
The Royals lead the majors in batting average (.288) and rank third in on-base percentage (.338). They have hit the second-fewest home runs in the American League. The Astros' 62 homers are 11 more than the closest AL rival, but they have struck out more than all but one team in baseball and rank just 13th in the league in OBP. Their one commonality is outstanding pitching, especially shutdown bullpens with ERAs below 2.25.
Having gained confidence and experience from last year's World Series run, the Royals have the makings of a club whose time has come. The upstart Astros may not be there yet.
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Bryce Harper: 15 home runs, on pace for 59: This projection assumes Harper will complete the majority of his games instead of getting constantly ejected. His 10-homer spree in May has served notice Harper's ready to live up to the outsized expectations that have followed him. And his walk rate has spiked, a sign of the 22-year-old slugger's maturation. His 37 walks in 41 games are one shy of last year's total in 100 games. Does that make Harper a threat to become the first player to reach the 60-homer mark since Barry Bonds in 2001? Likely not, but it will be fun to keep track.
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Bartolo Colon: 46 strikeouts, three walks, a 15.33 ratio: The New York Mets' right-hander was making a mockery of the strikeout-to-walk stat, entering Wednesday's start with a mind-blowing 42-1 line, until striking out just four and issuing two bases on balls while getting rocked by the St. Louis Cardinals. That still leaves the rotund one with a ratio that would easily break the record of 11.63 Phil Hughes set with the Minnesota Twins last season.
By the way, Colon turns 42 on Sunday and his six victories put him on pace for 24. In the unlikely chance he notched 20, he would become the second-oldest pitcher to reach that coveted figure, after Warren Spahn in 1963.
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Marcus Semien: 16 errors, on pace for 62: The Oakland Athletics shortstop has been the biggest culprit in a brutal defensive season for the club, which is buried in last place in the AL West. The 62 errors would be the most in the majors at any position since Lonny Frey was charged with the same number while playing shortstop and second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1936.
Semien, who has particularly struggled with his throws, was primarily a shortstop in the minors but was used as a utilityman by the Chicago White Sox the last two seasons before a December trade to Oakland. If it's any consolation for Semien, Hall of Fame shortstop Joe Cronin also committed 62 errors in 1929. Presumably, Semien's glove represents an upgrade over the models Frey and Cronin used.
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James Shields: 14 home runs allowed, 75 strikeouts, on pace for 55 and 296. In his first season in the National League with the San Diego Padres, Shields has proven equal parts effective and vulnerable. The high home run and strikeout totals should not come as a surprise, considering he led the AL in gopher balls in 2010 while with the Tampa Bay Rays, and Shields has topped the 220-whiff mark twice.
This year he's taking those tendencies to an extreme. The home run proclivity is particularly unexpected considering Shields is now pitching his home games at that hitters' graveyard known as Petco Park, where he has yielded half the long balls. Even if the paces slow down, Shields could become just the third pitcher ever to combine 200 strikeouts and 40 home runs, after Hall of Famers Phil Niekro in 1979 and Bert Blyleven in 1986, as well as Jack Morris in 1986.
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Dee Gordon: 64 hits, on pace for 247: The Miami Marlins' nosedive in the standings has occurred at the same time Gordon has cooled off at the plate, and the developments are certainly interconnected. The Marlins have lost seven in a row, and Gordon is 3-for-25 in the last six. But the speedy second baseman still leads the majors in hits by plenty, and his projected 247 hits would be the ninth-highest total ever.
Perhaps Gordon can get some advice on how to snap out his current slump from teammate Ichiro Suzuki, who holds the single-season record of 262, set in 2004, and the 10th-highest figure, with 242 in 2001. Gordon became an All-Star last season, when he collected a career-high 176 hits. Despite his continued improvement, Suzuki's benchmarks appear safe.
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