MLB: 6 Overachieving Position Players From Baseball’s First Month

With a month of Major League Baseball in the rear-view mirror, we’ve flipped through the numbers to find six position players who are massively overachieving. Ideally, we’ll do the same thing for pitchers and maybe, the same thing for guys that are underachieving.

Six Overachieving Position Players | 4/26

Didi Gregorious, New York Yankees

Although Gregorious had a great season last year, the numbers he is putting up this season are off the charts. He leads the entire league in batting average (.372) and ranks behind only Mike Trout on the MLB home run list (9).

2012-2017 with three teams:

Batting average: .266

HR per 162: 17

2018 with NYY:

Batting average: .372

Projected HR: 63

Asdrubal Cabrera, New York Mets

Cabrera has been the best position player on a New York Mets team that, surprisingly, sits atop the NL East. He leads the team in almost every offensive category and ranks third among National League hitters in batting average.

2007-2017 with four teams:

Batting average: .270

HR per 162: 17

2018 with NYM:

Batting average: .349

Projected HR: 28

Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers

Will this dude ever fall off? The answer, at least through 24 games, is no. Beltre, now 39-years old and in his 21st season, leads all qualified Rangers in hits (27), batting average (.310), and OPS (.803). Unlike Cabrera and Gregorious, Beltre’s 2018 stats are on par with what he’s done in his career. It’s his age that makes him an overachiever this year.

Curtis Granderson, Toronto Blue Jays

The Grandy Man had an awful stint with the Dodgers to finish 2017. It was so bad, in fact, that he was left off the Dodgers’ World Series roster. With all that said, he’s bounced back like a CHAMP! Of all Blue Jays with at least 35 plate appearances, he has the best overall batting average (.321). And in Toronto’s most recent win, Granderson made a game-saving defensive play in the ninth inning followed by a walk-off homer in the 10th.

2017 with LAD: 

Batting average: .149

OPS: .596

2018 with TOR:

Batting average: .321

OPS: .996

Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers

We’ve seen this situation before: a superstar makes a name for himself in a city, then leaves for a while before returning home. Jose Reyes is currently doing it with the Mets. Ichiro is doing it with the Mariners. Kemp, however, is doing it better than both of them. It wouldn’t have surprised anyone if Kemp returned to the Dodgers and flopped, yet he is having his best season since 2012 — the last year he was an All-Star. And while he’s not going to be an All-Star this year, he already has a higher WAR than his last three seasons combined.

2015-2017 with two teams:

Batting average: .269

OPS: .780

2018 with LAD:

Batting average: .313

OPS: .910

Eduardo Escobar, Minnesota Twins

Even though the Twins aren’t playing great as a team, they have a core group of four guys who can stroke (Escobar, Mauer, Dozier, and Kepler). Ironically, the least-known player of the four, Escobar, leads the team in hitting.

2011-2017 with two teams:

Batting average: .253

HR per 162: 13

2018 with MIN:

Batting average: .303

Projected HR: 24

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