Every year, there are players in MLB that start the season on fire. Unsung heroes who lead their teams to incredible starts and surprise most experts, but the magic eventually ends. Here are three players that have started the year on a hot streak, but will regress sooner than later and return to their career norm.
Eric Thames: Thames’ story is a fascinating one. The Milwaukee Brewers signed him on a three-year, $16 million deal during the offseason. Looking on the surface it seemed like a decent contract. After all, Thames spent the last three years in South Korea but had failed to stay in the Majors prior to that. However, he has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball during April. Up to April 20, the 30-year-old leads all of baseball in home runs with seven, and also has 11 RBI under his belt. He’s hitting an impressive .408 and slugging .959, while posting an OPS of 1.459. He leads the Majors on those two last stats, but that’s not going to last for a long time.
Big-league pitchers know how to figure out hitters, and it remains to be seen whether Thames can adjust. He spent the past three seasons playing in the Korean Baseball Organization, where he averaged 41 home runs and 126 RBI per year. Amd we know he’s not going to put those numbers over the course of a full MLB season.
James Paxton: Who would’ve thought Paxton would be the best pitchers in the Majors nearing the end of April? The 28-year-old lefty has outperformed even the most optimistic expectations during his fifth year with the Seattle Mariners. Over three starts, Paxton has a 0.00 ERA since he hasn’t allowed a run over 21 innings of work. Furthermore, he has allowed only eight hits and four walks while striking out 22. His WHIP of 0.57 is second in the Majors, and opposing players are hitting .113 off him, good for second in MLB as well.
Paxton has always been a solid pitcher, as evidenced by his career ERA of 3.20 in 307 innings of work. But he won’t lead the MLB in ERA much longer, let alone the American League. But he’s been throwing absolute dynamite on the mound, and Seattle could definitively use that kind of pitching considering their negative start to the season.
Avisail Garcia: The 25-year-old has been a pleasant surprise for the Chicago White Sox. Garcia plays as a DH, a role where his main duty is putting the ball in play. And looking at his numbers, we can’t deny he has been extremely successful. Garcia has 22 hits in 52 at-bats, good for an average of .423 that leads the American League. In addition to that, he has three homers, 12 RBI and 12 strikeouts against five walks. He’s been the hottest player in the White Sox’s roster, but that’s going to change pretty soon.
After all, we’re talking about someone who’s never hit .285 when playing over 70 games. And even during his first big-league call-up he hit .319. A regression is coming soon, so the White Sox need to ride his bat as long as they can because he’s not going to maintain this pace over a full season.