Boston Red Sox headline six of the biggest surprises in MLB thus far

The Boston Red Sox have surprised many with their offensive prowess, but that’s not the only unexpected thing to happen so far across the major leagues.

Almost a third of the way through the season there have been quite a few incredibly fun surprises, with Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees rivalry heating up once again. No baseball season is without its unexpected results. Teams jump from rebuild to contender faster than expected. Hitters we all assumed were toast flare back to life. A collection of players clicks in a way no one saw coming leaving us with an example of the idiom.

“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” Baseball is perhaps the best suited of the major American sports to generate surprising outcomes.

So with that, here are six of the biggest in the young season, leading to the Boston Red Sox and the biggest surprise of them all.

The Atlanta Braves have the best record in the National League.

If you are waking up from a coma that started in February, yes you read that right. The Atlanta Braves currently have the best record in the National League at 28-17. Now, that’s built on the backs of their two young future studs Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna. Both were expected to be great players, though probably not right out of the gate.

Acuna is performing exactly as advertised, flashing all five tools in his first 23 games. He has speed, power, a great glove, and arm, and he’s hitting for contact pretty well for a rookie. The 2017 minor league player of the year still has plenty of room to grow. 

But it seems that the prolonged struggles that plague so many young players as they break into the majors won’t be a concern for the superstar in waiting.

Ozzie Albies, on the other hand, has been a revelation. The speed isn’t a surprise, but the power sure is. Fangraphs had his eventual hit tool at 70 along with that speed. But his raw power was supposedly maxed out at 40. He currently has 13 HR, good for 5th in the majors.

He’s in front of names like Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Charlie Blackmon and Justin Upton. He’s tied with Bryce Harper and Khris Davis. Now, there is some regression likely coming. His expected SLG is .517 as opposed to a .579 actual SLG. And his expected wOBA is 23 points lower than his actual wOBA. But he’s established that he has much more power than expected.

And don’t forget about Freddie Freeman doing his usual thing, Nick Markakis is having a revival, Kurt Suzuki continues to be a consistently above average hitter, and the fact that they have 11 hitters total performing at league average or above.

That pitching though…

The Atlanta Braves are just 12th in pitching staff WAR according to Fangraphs. That said, they have the 6th best ERA to date, and that figure is consistent across the rotation and the bullpen. For results, the rotation has seen excellent performances from Sean Newcomb, Anibal Sanchez, and Mike Foltynewicz. And each likely has some regression on the horizon.

Rookie Mike Soroka, on the other hand, looked like he might be even better than his 3.68 ERA before hitting the DL with a shoulder strain. Hopefully, he isn’t on the shelf for long as he could be a big part of offsetting the eventual return to Earth by one or more of their current top three starters.

The bullpen has had some unexpected but very encouraging results as well. Shane Carle, Dan Winkler, Sam Freeman, A.J. Minter, Arodys Vizcaino, and Luiz Gohara have all looked great. A strong bullpen can be a crucial component in over performing Pythagorean wins which the Braves actually haven’t done yet. So there may be some room for improvement on their luck coming.

In short, the Atlanta Braves look like one of the best teams in baseball right now, and it may not be a fluke. Don’t be surprised if they are in the race for the division as the season winds down.