He came into the season with high expectations, and he's lived up to those so far. The 5x5 stats are easy to see, but some statistics that are a little harder to find explain his hot hitting.
Here's a look at how Abreu and a few others are faring in some other hitting categories.
Extra-base hits: Abreu is tied with Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt with eight extra-base hits and 12 runs created. That’s fantastic company. Abreu also leads the league in AB/RBI (2.86) and hit by pitches (3). He couldn’t have had a better first 40 at-bats.
People left on base: I referenced this statistic in this week’s Hit and Run, and Aaron Hill still leads the league with 24 PLOB. A close second is Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion, who has stranded 23 runners. Encarnacion’s early-season struggles are obvious, but keep an eye on this statistic moving forward because he should eventually cash in on these opportunities.
PA/BB: Jose Bautista hasn’t hit for average (.233), but he leads the league in PA/BB (3.50). This is yet another reason why we favor on-base percentage over batting average. Carlos Santana (3.91) is a close second in this category. Santana also leads the league in pitches taken (145).
Ground-ball percentage: Allen Craig has hit ground balls in 22 of his 31 at-bats and leads the majors with a 95.7 ground-ball percentage. That’s not quite in line with his career mark of 59.3. Craig isn’t hitting line drives (yet), and that has led to his poor start (.097, 0 HR, 3 RBIs).
Swings: Arizona’s Mark Trumbo (99 swings) and San Francisco’s Brandon Belt (96) aren’t messing around at the plate. The difference is Trumbo has taken 109 pitches, while Belt has taken just 78. Adam Eaton (95) also has been super-aggressive at the plate early.
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