The start of a new season brings some hot performances and some not-so-hot as players look to hit the ground running. Here’s a look at some of the surprises, good and bad, throughout the first week of baseball action.
A’s option Esteury Ruiz to Triple-A Las Vegas
Some thought that Oakland was pulling an April Fool’s joke when they announced they were demoting Ruiz to their Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators. They were not. Fans around baseball are absolutely perplexed as to why the A’s would demote their young outfielder this early in the season, especially considering he was batting .429 through seven at-bats and a 1.232 on-base plus slugging (OPS) to begin the campaign. Not to mention that the 25-year-old led MLB with 67 stolen bases last year.
Supposedly, Oakland was considering starting Ruiz in the minors to begin the season to work on his swing and consistency at the plate. Still, the organization has been a trainwreck over the last few seasons and doesn’t seem to be heading anywhere near contention this year. Would it really hurt to let Ruiz work on his swing at the Major League level? At the very least, the Athletics would still have the player who set the record for most steals by a rookie in the American League. It seems that the front office is trying its best to torment the fans that still pay attention to this team.
Hot start for Nick Martini
Martini made his professional debut back in 2018, though this season was the first time that he cracked a Major League roster and received a starting nod for his team’s Opening Day game. The 33-year-old made quite the first impression to begin the new campaign, smashing two home runs to lead his Cincinnati Reds to an 8-2 victory over the Washington Nationals back on March 28. Both long balls came off Washington starter Josiah Gray, including a two-run shot in the second inning and a three-run bomb in the third.
After enduring a long stint in the Minor Leagues and bouncing around between Oakland, the San Diego Padres, the Chicago Cubs and even a quick trip to Korea to play for the KBO League’s NC Dinos, Martini must hope that his hot start will keep him on Cincinnati’s roster — even after fellow outfielder TJ Friedl makes his return from the injured list. In addition to his Opening Day performance, Martini already has 8 runs batted in (RBIs) in just 11 at-bats spanning four games. He’s tied for fourth in the Majors in RBIs despite all players ranked ahead of him playing in six or more games.
Are Colorado’s pitchers really that bad?
The two Major League pitchers who have allowed the most runs so far this season both belong to the Colorado Rockies. Kyle Freeland has surrendered 17 runs over 5.2 innings while rookie reliever Anthony Molina has allowed 11 runs over 3.1 innings. Freeland was rocked for 10 runs over 2.1 innings on Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks before yielding 7 runs over 3.1 innings in his next outing against the Cubs. Dakota Hudson was the only Colorado starter to pitch a scoreless outing in their season debut as all other starters have amassed an earned run average (ERA) over 5.40 to begin the year.
It’s hard to believe in a pitching staff that has a notable lack of talented arms, but one would think that they could manage a better start with the new season commencing. As a unit, the Rockies are dead last in the Majors in ERA at 8.08. They’re also in last place in strikeouts (32 in six games), tied for last place in home runs allowed (11) and fourth-to-last place in walks (28). Opponents are batting .332 against Colorado, one spot behind Washington for last place in the league. It looks like it’ll be another painful season for Rockies fans.
Bailey Ober has a start to forget
Ober took the bump for the Minnesota Twins in their third game of the season against the Kansas City Royals. To say that he didn’t pitch well would be an understatement. In the contest, the 28-year-old surrendered 8 runs on 9 hits over just 1.1 innings of work, also allowing three balls to travel over the outfield fence. Of the 14 batters that he faced, 10 reached base, ballooning his early-season ERA to a whopping 54.00.
It was probably the worst starting pitching performance that took place during MLB’s Opening Week. It’s a bit surprising that it was Ober who can be tabbed with the week’s worst start; he’s coming off a season in which he managed an 8-6 win-loss record to complement a solid 3.43 ERA. It’s the most runs that Ober has given up in a single start in his career after he previously allowed six runs to score in a start back in July 2023. He’ll look to rebound during his next scheduled start this Sunday against the Cleveland Guardians.