A little more than one month into the 2024 season, Major League Baseball has already seen its share of surprises.
Some teams and players are overperforming, while others are struggling to meet expectations. What does it all mean, though?
MLB.com polled two dozen front-office executives with a number of questions to gauge what we’ve learned to this point in the season.
Note: Executives were free to skip any questions they chose not to answer, while some also provided multiple answers to some questions.
Which team has been the biggest surprise?
Royals (13 votes)
Guardians (7 votes)
Brewers (2 votes)
Athletics (1 vote)
Tigers (1 vote)
The American League Central dominated this category, with the Royals, Guardians and Tigers garnering 21 of 24 votes.
Kansas City’s strong start caught the attention of the majority of the executives that took part in the poll. The Royals have come out of the gate strong, leaving them near the top of the division standings.
“[Bobby Witt Jr.] has continued to get better and is looking like an MVP-caliber player,” an NL executive said. “The offseason pitching additions have been solid, [Brady] Singer is back on track and [Cole] Ragans looks like the real deal.”
“I thought they would be terrible,” one AL executive said. “But their midrange free-agent deals have been mostly OK, and Witt has been playing at another level.”
Those deals included the addition of Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha to the starting rotation, two arms that have helped stabilize the starting five.
“The Royals’ pitching deserves credit for carrying them to a hot start when expectations were low going into the year,” an NL executive said. “Time will tell whether this is sustainable.”
Even with the Royals’ unexpected play, the Guardians are pacing the surprisingly strong division, one which features four teams with winning records.
“They made few additions in the offseason and have since lost [Shane] Bieber to [Tommy John surgery], yet they’re still one of the best teams with one of the best run differentials a month into the season,” said an AL executive.
Cleveland is 8-2 against the White Sox and Athletics, helping fortify its early-season record, though the Guardians have held their own in games against winning teams, compiling an 11-7 mark against the Braves, Yankees, Red Sox, Twins and Mariners.
“I still don’t fully trust it, but they make contact and do a lot of little things well,” an AL executive said. “I saw them closer to a .500 or slightly better team, but given their pitching injuries, I’m surprised they’ve been this good.”
The two executives who chose the Brewers as their early-season surprise noted the departures (namely Corbin Burnes and Craig Counsell) and injury issues (Devin Williams, Brandon Woodruff) that might have sunk most other teams.
“No Burnes/Williams/Woodruff? No problem,” an AL executive said. “They continue to find ways to get it done.”
Which team has been the biggest disappointment?
Astros (16 votes)
Rockies (2 votes)
Cardinals (2 votes)
Giants (1 vote)
No surprise here as the Astros — winners of the AL West in six of the past seven years and the World Series champs in 2017 and ’22 — have gotten off to a dreadful start.
“They should be a World Series contender with their roster,” an NL executive said. “But they haven’t gotten anywhere near the production they expected from a good number of players on their roster.”
“They have high expectations and are digging themselves a big hole,” another NL exec said. “They still have some stars, but big questions about the starting rotation and some key offensive players are not performing.”
Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Peña are all off to strong starts, but Alex Bregman has been struggling and José Abreu — more on him later — played so poorly that Houston decided to send him to the Minors to work out the kinks. The rotation has also been marred by injuries (Justin…
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