We are more than a month into the MLB season and so much has already unfolded. Between big time hits, major injuries, and major drama, this has been an interesting baseball season to watch unfold. Let’s dive into the 2024 MLB biggest surprises of the season thus far.
The Cleveland Guardians
Woah, where did this team come from? Stephen Vogt took over for Terry Francona and during his first month plus as a big-league skipper he has the Guardians firing on all cylinders. For the majority of April, Cleveland had the best record in the league, and they lead the AL Central by a pretty good margin. Minnesota is finally getting hot, but for a team that finished 2023 10 games under .500 this has been quite the squad to watch and get it done. Vogt has tapped into this team and their offense, and it’s been very fun to watch.
The Luis Arraez Trade
This one also falls into a disappointment for how bad the Marlins have been, but we just don’t see a trade like this happen so early in the season. Arraez is the two-time reigning batting champ, winning the crown once with Minnesota and once with Miami so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as to why the Marlins decided to essentially dump their best hitter and not get back a prospect that is even ranked inside the top 100. The Padres are getting an absolute steal of a player with this guy who will live on base in Southern California.
Alec Bohm Becoming a Star
This guy has had his ups and his downs with the Philadelphia Phillies. If you know him well, you’ll remember him a few years back making an error at third, getting booed, and then saying to himself, “I hate it here.” I don’t think that he hates it there anymore. Bohm has been sensational this season. He has the second highest batting average in the league to just Shohei Ohtani and he has the second highest OBP in the league to just Mookie Betts. The Phillies already had a terrifying lineup, and he just adds to that dominance. He is a big reason why they are in first place.
The Rise of Mason Miller
There is a new electric closer in Major League Baseball and he is a big reason why the Oakland A’s are creeping towards the top of the AL West. Miller is a rookie closer, converted from a starter who has thrown most of the fastest pitches in the league this year. At the beginning of May, he owned eight of the fastest nine pitches thrown this year. He is still perfect in save opportunities and has yet to allow an earned run in his last 11 appearances which was the entire month of April and then a spill into the month of May. The A’s could drop off here very soon given the depth of their roster but it doesn’t change the fact that Miller is a total star.