As the month of April wraps up, we'll take a look at the top pitchers and position players in both leagues to try and guess who may walk away with POTM honors and has an early lead on Rookie of the Year!
National League
Pitchers
- Ranger Suarez is your top NL Starting Pitcher of April, with a 5-0 Record and the Phillies being undefeated in his six Starts. Along with the five Wins, Suarez also has an ERA of 1.32 which is tops in the NL, has thrown 41 Innings which is second behind only Tyler Glasnow of the Dodgers, and has a 8.78 K/9 which is just under the top 10 in the League. He's also amassed an fWAR of 1.3, second only to teammate and Phillies Ace in Zack Wheeler who has a 1.4 fWAR.
- Shota Imanaga has made an immediate impact on the Chicago Cubs and the National League as the top rookie Starting Pitcher with a 4-0 record in five Starts and miniscule 0.98 ERA over 27.2 Innings Pitched. He's striking out an average of just over one batter per inning, and has an fWAR of 0.9 going into May.
- Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals is your top Relief Pitcher in April with a 2-2 record and 9 Saves in 15 Appearances and 15 Innings Pitched. He has a lowly 1.80 ERA and rocks a 10.20 K/9 to go with his fWAR of 0.6 going into the last day of April.
- Bryan Hudson of the Brewers is your top Rookie Relief Pitcher as he goes into the final day of April with a 2-0 record in 10 Games and 14.1 Innings. While he isn't a Closer, Hudson is helping to shut the door against teams as he hasn't left every situation he's been put into as it was, with a LOB% of 100 and induces the ground ball at a 51.5% clip. He has also struck out 14 Batters while only giving up 1 ER the entire month via the solo home run from Elly De La Cruz.
Position Player/DH
- This is Mookie Betts' world, and everyone is just living in it. Amassing an fWAR of 2.7 to lead the National League (Alec Bohm is second to him with an fWAR of 1.8 for comparison). He's hitting .387/.482/.655 with a wRC+ of 216, has played in all of the Dodgers 30 Games going into the last day of April, driven in 23 RBI (3rd), scored 29 Runs (1st), and hit 6HR (8th) while being first in Average, On-Base Percentage and second in Slugging. I can tell you right here and now that Betts will easily walk away with the NL POTM Award for April.
- As far as your best Rookie position player in April, that will easily go to Michael Busch, who was traded from LA to Chicago, in which the Dodgers got another fantastic young pitching prospect. But what matters now is the Majors, and Michael has made a complete turnaround from where he was last year in a Dodgers uniform. Despite his defensive woes, his bat has more than done enough to make up for his lacking glove. He is 9th in Average, 9th in On-Base Percentage, 4th in Slugging among rookies in April. With 6HR (1st among NL rookies), 17RBI (1st among NL rookies), 14 Runs scored (1st among NL rookies) he's fourth in wRC+ at 136 going into the end of the month and has an fWAR of 0.6 (4th among NL rookies).
American League
Pitchers
- This is one of those times where I feel that WAR, ERA, Wins/Losses can be flawed stats, and you need to look at the peripheral stats. Tarik Skubal of the Tigers is your top AL Starting Pitcher as he goes into May with a 4-0 record (T-1st) over six Starts with a 1.72 ERA (3rd), throwing 36.2 Innings (5th), and has a 10.06 K/9 (11th). Other stats he sits at in the top 10 with a 1.47 BB/9 (8th), 0.49 HR/9 (6th). He put up a 1.3 fWAR which is good enough for third overall in the AL for April.
- Your top Rookie Starting Pitcher, in his limited action, is Simeon Woods Richardson for the Twins. In his two Starts this season, he is sitting at a 1-0 record over 11.0 Innings Pitched with a 2.45 ERA and 0.5 fWAR. We'll have to see a lot more from this small batch of rookie pitchers to make an educated guess as to who'll be the best over time.
- Your top Relief Pitcher is in a place that most would not go to look for. The Oakland Athletics Mason Miller is sporting a 1.46 ERA with seven Saves in ten Appearances over 12.1 Innings Pitched. He also has an 18.24 K/9 which is tops for relievers, and has yet to give up a home run. He also had a run of all of his seven Saves consecutively from April 9th to the 26th, dropping his ERA from an ugly 6.00 to its current 1.46; despite a bumpy start to the season, he has come out on top to end April in the bullpen as an elite Closer. He is also a rookie, so he doubles as the AL's top Rookie Relief Pitcher in April!
Position Player/DH
- Gunnar Henderson is our top AL Player of April sporting a 1.9fWAR (T-1st), 9HR (2nd), 22RBI (6th), 23 Runs Scored (T-2nd), with six Stolen Bases which is tied for 7th overall. If he only walked more and played in a few more games, he would be tops in AL as far as fWAR goes, and he needs to make a little bit more contact to boost his Average, where he's only 18th overall in the AL. Driving in more runs would help boost his 171 wRC+ which puts his 6th overall in the American League. If he is beat out by someone else for AL POTM, it'll be AL East rival in Juan Soto.
- Colton Cowser of the Orioles looks to be the top April rookie with plenty of eye-popping stats. He leads in RBIs (18), Average (.310), On-Base Percentage (.375), Slugging (.662), HR (6), and has a 1.4 fWAR which is also the best among AL Rookies. He's top 10 as far as Runs scored (11), and Games (26) also. The Orioles are creating a monster group of rookies in the AL East that will contend for a playoff spot this season, and possibly AL ROY.