Biggest MLB Duds of May 2016, Position by Position
Aside from a few failed fireworks here and there, Memorial Day weekend tends to be devoid of duds.
It's a time for family and friends to gather for the first official barbecues of the season, some frosty adult beverages and, of course, baseball. It is the unofficial start of the summer, and nothing says summer quite like a ballgame.
Not all of the players who take the field share our enthusiasm, however, as some are mired in month-long funks. Taking traditional and advanced statistics into consideration, here's a look at those who can't wait until the official start of summer arrives, perhaps resulting in a bat that finally begins to heat up.
Catcher: Francisco Cervelli, Pittsburgh Pirates
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Like Archie "Moonlight" Graham, Francisco Cervelli has a second career as a doctor—a doctor of love.
It might be time for the Pittsburgh Pirates catcher to retire his rose-emblazoned smoking jacket and keep his Dr. Ruth-like wisdom to himself, however, as it appears as though the rigors of leading a double life are affecting his day job in a negative way.
While he's still walking at a healthy clip, his strikeout rate is way up, and when he does put the bat on the ball, it's rarely hard contact. That helps to explain his .466 OPS on the month, more than 130 points below our dishonorable mention, the Oakland Athletics' Stephen Vogt.
Dishonorable Mention
Stephen Vogt (OAK): .250 BA, .600 OPS, 3 XBH (1 HR), 6 RBI, 2 BB, 16 K
First Base: Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
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Don't be surprised if you see Mark Teixeira hanging flyers at your local grocery store. He lost something in mid-April and needs help finding it.
“The first week, I thought, ‘I’m going to hit 50 [home runs] this year,’” Teixeira told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. “I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be a great season.’ Then I just lost it. I lost the timing and ever since I’ve been trying to get it back.”
Tex, who was on pace for a career-high 69 knocks after the season's first week, has only four extra-base hits (all doubles) and is hitting .185 with 39 strikeouts and a .501 OPS since. He mustered only 12 hits (three two-baggers) over 73 May at-bats, striking out 26 times.
Dishonorable Mention
Mitch Moreland (TEX): .188 BA, .578 OPS, 5 XBH (2 HR), 7 RBI, 9 BB, 20 K
Second Base: Starlin Castro, New York Yankees
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Three consecutive players with ties to the New York Yankees? Allow me to save you the trouble of posting "Your anti-Yankees bias is showing!" in the comments section below. Instead, I suggest something along the lines of "So this is what drove Cubs fans insane for years!"
Starlin Castro, the three-time All-Star who looked like he was well on his way to a fourth appearance in the Midsummer Classic after a strong April, has since gotten lost at the plate. That sort of inconsistency plagued him during much of the six years he spent in Chicago.
New York's 26-year-old second baseman hit only .208 in May (21-for-101), sending his batting average plummeting from .314 on May 1 to .251 entering play Sunday. Castro's OPS took a similarly steep stumble, going from a robust .852 after the first day in May to an uninspiring .696.
Dishonorable Mention
Cesar Hernandez (PHI): .238 BA, .571 OPS, 3 XBH (0 HR), 5 RBI, 6 BB, 16 K
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Third Base: Eugenio Suarez, Cincinnati Reds
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There's being a gracious host, and then there's what Eugenio Suarez did for the Seattle Mariners when they paid a visit to the Cincinnati Reds in late May.
Suarez went to the plate 12 times against Seattle and struck out in 10 of those appearances. According to author and statistician Joel Luckhaupt, that master class in swinging at air set a new Reds record for the most strikeouts by a single player in a three-game series.
Amazingly, those 10 strikeouts accounted for less than a third of the 35 whiffs Suarez had in May. The 24-year-old has gone without a hit in his last 27 plate appearances, striking out 15 times over that span.
Dishonorable Mention
Trevor Plouffe (MIN): .216 BA, .518 OPS, 3 XBH (1 HR), 5 RBI, 2 BB, 14 K
Shortstop: Erick Aybar, Atlanta Braves
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Welcome back, Mr. Aybar; your usual table is ready.
The Atlanta Braves' starting shortstop filled the role on April's All-Dud team, and sure enough, he's back for more after another forgettable month.
While he landed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a bruised right foot, his play before the injury was nearly as bad as it was in April.
May saw him hit .200 with a .486 OPS, which was up from an April batting average of .161 and a .391 OPS. That may seem like an improvement, but it's really not. All the veteran shortstop did was go from horrifically awful to plain awful.
Dishonorable Mention
Alexei Ramirez (SD): .202 BA, .498 OPS, 5 XBH (0 HR), 7 RBI, 2 BB, 13 K
Left Field: Colby Rasmus, Houston Astros
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Baseball is a game of adjustments.
For Colby Rasmus, those adjustments are twofold: Not only does he have to adjust to being the starting left fielder on this All-Dud team a month after earning a starting spot on B/R's Team of the Month for April, but he also needs to make necessary adjustments at the plate to ensure he's not a dud again in June.
It's something that wasn't lost on the 29-year-old.
"You start off like that and then (the pitchers) start working you in different ways and trying to find the weaknesses," Rasmus told Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. "That's why it's all about making adjustments."
Pitchers have had no problem befuddling Rasmus in recent weeks, holding him to only four extra-base hits (three doubles and a home run) and 18 hits over 90 May at-bats, resulting in a mediocre .200/.245/.267 slash line with 31 strikeouts.
Dishonorable Mention
Jayson Werth (WAS): .226 BA, .599 OPS, 6 XBH (2 HR), 7 RBI, 5 BB, 20 K
Center Field: Ben Revere, Washington Nationals
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That Ben Revere channeled his inner Bryce Harper and hit the fifth home run of his seven-year career Tuesday was nearly reason enough to spare him the indignity of appearing on our All-Dud squad.
But aside from that fateful at-bat—and a three-game stretch from May 19 to May 22 that saw him go 7-for-14 with a triple, four RBI, three runs scored and a pair of stolen bases—you would have thought that Revere spent the month riding a horse across the land, kicking up sand.
In Revere's first extended action since spring training—he spent nearly all of April on the disabled list with an oblique strain—the 28-year-old hit only .195 (16-for-82) with a .544 OPS, striking out 10 times.
Not only did that make him the Washington Nationals' least productive player in May, but also the least productive center fielder in all of baseball.
Dishonorable Mention
Kevin Pillar (TOR): .228 BA, .604 OPS, 11 XBH (1 HR), 9 RBI, 2 BB, 16 K
Right Field: Matt Kemp, San Diego Padres
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As Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune noted, May is historically a rough month for Matt Kemp, so it's no surprise to see the 31-year-old outfielder struggling at the plate. But that doesn't make his lack of production any more acceptable if you're a member (or fan) of the San Diego Padres.
Kemp's May batting average (.189) is nearly identical to his monthly on-base percentage (.191). If eight of his 20 hits hadn't gone for extra bases, his .549 OPS would reside somewhere in the .400s.
That said, this may be the last time Kemp is in the running for a spot on B/R's All-Dud team, as he's posted an OPS of at least .825 in every other month over the course of his 11-year career.
Dishonorable Mention
Nick Markakis (ATL): .180 BA, .521 OPS, 2 XBH (1 HR), 9 RBI, 16 BB, 18 K
Designated Hitter: Kendrys Morales, Kansas City Royals
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If the Kansas City Royals used Kendrys Morales exclusively against left-handed pitching, he'd be one of the most productive platoon players in baseball. But the Royals aren't paying Morales $9 million to be a part-time player, and they aren't about to give up on the 32-year-old, either.
“We got to get Kendrys going,” Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters on May 20. “That’s what I’ve thought about. You’re talking about a Silver Slugger last year. I’m not talking about just some Joe Blow. We’ve got to get him going from the left side. He’s going good from the right side.”
Success against the occasional southpaw isn't enough to keep Morales from getting the nod. He was so bad in May (.146 BA, .482 OPS) that he made it seem as though our runner-up and last month's starting designated hitter, Prince Fielder, had a good month.
Dishonorable Mention
Prince Fielder (TEX): .185 BA, .544 OPS, 8 XBH (0 HR), 8 RBI, 10 BB, 18 K
Starting Pitcher: Ubaldo Jimenez, Baltimore Orioles
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Why was Ubaldo Jimenez perhaps the easiest selection for May's All-Dud squad? The Baltimore Sun's Eduardo A. Encina summed it up well Saturday.
"Jimenez has a 10.26 ERA over his past four starts—three of them Orioles losses—and has failed to make it out of the sixth inning in any of those games," Encina wrote. "In Jimenez’s last three starts, the Orioles lost all three games by a combined score of 31-6."
It's not like his three previous May starts were anything special, either. While he did have one solid outing—the second game of a doubleheader against Oakland in which he tossed eight innings of two-run ball—Jimenez still boasted a 6.11 ERA over those starts.
For the month, Jimenez went 1-4, allowing 27 earned runs and 43 hits over 29.1 innings of work, walking as many batters (19) as he struck out.
Dishonorable Mention
Matt Harvey (NYM): 5 GS, 1-4, 7.56 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, 25 IP, 39 H, 6 HR, 8 BB, 23 K
Relief Pitcher: Caleb Cotham, Cincnnati Reds
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Last month, former Cincinnati closer J.J. Hoover occupied this spot. This month, it's another member of baseball's most incompetent bullpen, Caleb Cotham, who's taking the ball in the late innings.
Cotham, who was part of the package the Reds got from the Yankees for All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman, did manage to record 11 strikeouts over 11.2 innings of May relief, averaging nearly a whiff per inning.
The problem lies in the seven walks, 20 hits and 16 earned runs that he allowed and the robust .392/.468/.569 slash line the opposition put up against him over 11 May outings. His 12.34 ERA for the month is by far the highest among qualified relievers—nearly three runs higher than our runner-up.
Dishonorable Mention
Alex Wilson (DET): 12 G, 0-0, 9.53 ERA, 2.03 WHIP, 11.1 IP, 18 H, 2 HR, 5 BB, 6 K
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs and are current through games of May 28. All contract information courtesy of Cot's Contracts (via Baseball Prospectus).
Hit me up on Twitter to talk all things baseball: @RickWeinerBR
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