By Jason Beck – MLB.com May 9th, 2024
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Royals: The pitching staff has been excellent
Perhaps this isn’t that surprising given how different the rotation and bullpen look this year after the Royals’ offseason revamping. They put a better team together for ‘24, so it makes sense that it has actually been better. Still, it’s eye-popping to see how different the results are this year. Entering Wednesday, the Royals rotation ranked fourth in the Majors with a 3.32 ERA. They’ve logged 18 quality starts already this year after making just 32 last season and four through the first 38 games. The bullpen this year ranks 15th with a 3.76 ERA, and overall, the staff ranks eighth in baseball with a 3.39 ERA. In comparison, last year’s staff ranked third-worst in baseball with a 5.17 ERA. There’s still a long way to go, but the pitching is vastly improved from last year – and that’s led to many more wins. — Anne Rogers
Tigers: The most surprising developments for each AL Central Teamtakes over in center field
The Tigers went into the season expecting to have a rookie handling center field, but it was Parker Meadows. Pérez began the year at Triple-A Toledo and wasn’t even a full-time outfielder until Spring Training. After earning a call to Detroit in early April as an injury replacement, his hot hitting and infectious energy made him the right man in the right place for a team struggling for offense. The Tigers sent Meadows to Toledo this week, making Pérez their primary center fielder for the near future. — Jason Beck
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Twins: Ryan Jeffers is one of the best hitters in baseball?
When Jeffers broke out with a 138 wRC+ as part of the Twins’ catching timeshare last season, it might have been one of the quieter breakouts around the league, partly because he plays in Minnesota and partly because he wasn’t a big-name prospect in his short journey up the Minors. He needed to show he could replicate that in ‘24. Not only has he done that, but he’s improved on it. Jeffers has been the Twins’ most consistent and productive hitter all year and entered Wednesday with a 176 wRC+, also having used his two-strike approach to nearly halve his strikeout rate — and he’s forced his way into DH at-bats when he’s not behind the plate. — Do-Hyoung Park
White Sox: Erick Fedde, top-of-the-rotation starter
There’s no real surprise Fedde has found some level of pitching success through the early part of May when looking at how the right-hander reinvented himself during the 2023 season with a 20-6 record, 2.00 ERA and 209 strikeouts over 180 1/3 innings for NC Dinos as the KBO’s top pitcher. But even Fedde was interested in how his new repertoire would play in a Major League return, and entering his series-opening start against the Guardians Thursday, he’s been the most consistent pitcher on the White Sox staff. Fedde has 41 strikeouts over 36 innings and a 3.46 ERA, not to mention working into the ninth inning for the first time in his career on April 28 vs. Tampa Bay. He looks to be a White Sox building block in the latest rebuild or a solid trade option. — Scott Merkin