According To STATS: April Facts

[Greg Ambrosius]

This is our monthly newsletter: According to STATS with some great April figures:

They’ve got the best record in baseball, and who saw it coming for the Milwaukee Brewers? Nineteen teams won more games than the Brewers did in 2013, and the team’s 3.84 ERA ranked 16th. From last year to this year, Milwaukee is enjoying MLB’s largest increase in winning percentage (+.233; from .457 to .690) and largest decrease in team ERA (-0.84; from 3.84 to 3.00). Francisco Rodriguez is a big part of the team’s success, and is off to one of the best starts ever by a closer. In 16 appearances, K-Rod has recorded 13 saves in as many opportunities without allowing a single run. He is the first pitcher in the 46-year history of the save rule to finish the month of April with 13 or more saves and no runs allowed.

The Brewers aren’t the only team with some impressive pitching feats to their credit in 2014. Both the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers recorded six shutouts through the end of April, matching the most whitewashes by any MLB team entering May in the modern era (beginning in 1901). Six other teams reached that figure previously, most recently the 1997 Braves.

There was much talk in MLB in 2013 about the number of extra-inning games, as 10 percent of all games went to “overtime,” the highest such rate since 1991. This season, the pace is actually ahead of last year’s. Through games of May 1, 2013, 37 games had gone extra innings, with four of them going at least 14 innings; through the same date in 2014, there have been 44 extra-inning affairs, with the same number, four, lasting at least 14 frames. The Los Angeles Dodgers top MLB with seven extra-inning games played this season; they are 2-5 in those games, compared to 15-7 when their games end in regulation.

What is it about the Los Angeles Angels and the first inning? Last season, the Halos topped the majors with a plus-44 run differential in the first inning. In 2014, they’re at it again, with an MLB-best plus-20 scoring differential in the opening frame. The Angels’ six first-inning runs allowed are the fewest among all teams, and the 26 runs they’ve scored in the opening inning are tied with Oakland for the MLB lead. Mike Trout leads the majors with five first-inning home runs in only 26 at-bats; in the second inning and later, Trout has homered only once in 83 at-bats.

Trout ranks third among MLB qualifiers with an average of 4.60 pitches seen per plate appearance, trailing only the Cleveland Indians’ Carlos Santana, at 4.68, and Mike Napoli of the Boston Red Sox, at 4.67. At the other end of the scale is the Chicago White Sox’ Alexei Ramirez, whose plate appearances end in just 3.02 pitches on average. Ramirez has walked only five times this season, and has a streak of 66 consecutive plate appearances without a base on balls. Not that anyone on the South Side is complaining, as their shortstop leads the American League with a .351 batting average.

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ 9-22 record includes a ghastly 3-15 mark at home (0-2 in Australia, and 3-13 at Chase Field). The D’Backs match the 1972 Giants and 2003 Tigers for the worst home records through 18 games in the era of divisional play (1969 to present). Arizona has been outscored by a whopping 105-64 in its home games, and there are five individual pitchers in MLB who have as many home wins in 2014 as the Diamondbacks do as a team. Arizona’s Trevor Cahill is 0-4 with an 8.47 ERA at home; he has more home losses than the Atlanta Braves (9-3) and as many as the Miami Marlins (12-4), Colorado Rockies (9-4) and Kansas City Royals (8-4).

Miami’s strong home record owes much to the performance of Jose Fernandez. In fact, the second-year right-hander is unblemished in his career at Marlins Park, fashioning a 12-0 record with an otherworldly 1.00 ERA in 19 starts. No other pitcher (minimum 75 innings) has a home ERA since 2013 that is within half a run of Fernandez’ mark

Lowest Home ERA, 2013-2014 – minimum 75 innings
Jose Fernandez 1.00
Clayton Kershaw 1.54
Andrew Cashner 1.70
Stephen Strasburg 1.83
Matt Harvey 1.89

What has happened to MLB’s top power hitters of a season ago? The Baltimore Orioles’ Chris Davis led the majors last year with 53 longballs, with the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera finishing second with 44. In 2014, Davis and Cabrera have hit just two home runs each (Davis has been shelved for the last week with an oblique injury). Of the five players who hit at least 35 homers in 2013, only one of them has at least five round-trippers through games of May 1: the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Pedro Alvarez, who has six.

We’re used to seeing gaudy offensive numbers at home for the Colorado Rockies, but Troy Tulowitzki’s performance at Coors Field almost defies description. Tulo leads all players (minimum 40 plate appearances) with a .556 home batting average (20-for-36); he also leads in home on-base percentage (.630) and slugging percentage (1.056). The Atlanta Braves’ Justin Upton ranks second in each of those categories at home (.488 average, .553 OBP, 1.000 slugging percentage). Ranking third in home batting average is another Rockie, Charlie Blackmon, with a .460 mark (23-for-50). Blackmon has five homers in 50 at-bats at home – with none in 53 at-bats away from Coors.