First Series Surprises in 2013

Well, baseball is back.  We have just made it through our first set of series and there are already some surprising players bursting through the statistical gates.

5.    Rickie Weeks (MIL): 6-for-11 with a double, a homer, an RBI, a stolen base and five runs scored. OPS: 1.552

• After his dismal 2012 season that saw career-lows in batting average (.230) and on-base (.328), Weeks was a run-scoring machine for the Brewers in their 3-game series against the Rockies in Colorado.  The Milwaukee second baseman managed to reach base three times in each game in the series.  He finished the trip with a 3-for-4 performance with both of his extra-base hits (2B and HR), an RBI, and two runs scored.

4.    Mike Morse (SEA): 6-for-16 with 4 homers, 4 runs, and 6 RBI.  SLG: 1.125

• This should not have been much of a surprise after Morse’s offensive spring onslaught with a ML-leading nine homers.  However, there are always those naysayers that totally disregard any significance to Spring Training statistics.  Well, here you go.  After going 1-for-4 with a single in the first game, Morse went off for four homers in three games in the not-so-hitter-friendly Oakland Coliseum.

3.    Gerardo Parra (ARI): 8-for-16 with 3 doubles, a triple, a homer, an RBI, a stolen base and four runs scored.  Slash line: .500/.500/1.000

• After the injury to Adam Eaton, Kirk Gibson turned the reins of the leadoff spot over to Parra and it has paid immediate dividends.  Opening night, he ripped off four hits with three doubles off Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals pitchers.  Then in the 16-inning finale, Parra finished the night a double short of the cycle, stole a base, and scored 3 runs.

2.    Jed Lowrie (OAK): 6-for-13 with 4 doubles, a homer, 3 runs, 3 RBI. Slash line: .462/.533/1.000

• After his trade from Houston passed by as an afterthought, Jed Lowrie started the year without many expectations.  Despite going 1-for-6 in the first two games, Lowrie had a third game with a stat line filled with threes: 3-for-3 with 3 extra-base hits (2 2B and a homer) and 3 RBI.  He followed that impressive performance with two more doubles and two runs in the series finale.

1.    Chris Davis (BAL): 7-for-11 with 3 doubles, 3 homers, 4 runs, and 11 RBI.  Slash Line: .636/.692/1.727

• There is no doubt that Chris Davis has started 2013 hotter than anyone in baseball.  Not only has he homered in each of the team’s first three games, but he became the first player in Major League history with three or more RBI in each of those games.  During the second game, Davis had a ridiculous 4-for-4 night with two doubles, a homer, and four RBI.  Perhaps most impressive by Chris Davis standards, he has only tallied one strikeout in 13 plate appearances.

I know that it has only been three or four games, but some of these starts are sizzling.  Along with Davis’s historic first three games, Mike Morse also has become the first Mariners hitter to hit four bombs in the first four games since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997.  Junior went on to hit 56 homers that year along with 147 RBI en route to winning the AL MVP.  It looks like Rickie may be back, the A’s found an eleventh hour solution at shortstop, and the Diamondbacks don’t have to worry about the injury to Eaton.  However, it is not only possible but probable that none of these players will keep anywhere near these paces through even the month of April.  The point is, baseball is back and if you’re not watching then you’re missing out.