The Dodgers of their opening month* of 2024 performed video games in South Korea, the USA and Canada, and Will Smith had a four-hit sport in all of these nations.

Right here's a take a look at among the issues that stand out by the tip of April, together with a pair of superstars scorching on the plate, and a brand new rising ace in Los Angeles.

*As a caveat, we're speaking about baseball months right here, with March video games counting towards April, or “March/April” as October's common season video games are a part of September, or “September/ October”.

The April outcomes

19-13 file
169 runs scored (5.28 per sport, third in MLB)
128 runs allowed (4.00 per sport, ninth in MLB)
.624 Pythagorean profitable share (20-12)

The Nationwide League West in place: first place, 4 matches in San Francisco

It begins with Mookie

Mookie Betts isn't alone on the high of the Dodgers' lineup. He’s additionally first within the majors in a number of classes for the primary month of the season – OPS (1.101), OPS+ (209), wRC+ (211), on-base share (.477), batting common (.368), hits (46), walks (26), and runs scored (29). He additionally leads in Baseball Reference WAR (3.1) and FanGraphs WAR (2.8).

Chief in each successes and stroll it’s unusual. Within the trendy MLB period (1901-present), solely 4 gamers have led their league in hitting in each in a season: Rogers Hornsby (1924), Richie Ashburn (1958), Carl Yastrzemski (1963) and Lenny Dykstra (1993) ).

Betts is barely the sixth Dodger to ever attain base 70 instances in a month, and the primary since Jim Gilliam reached 74 instances in June 1959. This isn’t simply because the Dodgers had a gap month prolonged, as Betts' 72 instances reached. The house run is the second most within the first 32 video games of a season in franchise historical past, behind solely Babe Herman (73) in 1930.

Betts can be stealing bases at a speedy fee. His eight steals are greater than half of his season whole (14) in 2023, and are essentially the most he has had in any month since he swiped 10 bases in Could 2018 for Boston. Couple that with Betts' six dwelling runs, and he's simply the fourth Dodgers participant with a minimum of six homers and eight steals in a month, becoming a member of Davey Lopes (9 HR, 8 SB, Could 1979), Raul Mondesí (8 HR, 9) . SB, September 1999), and Matt Kemp twice in the identical season (6 HR, 8 SB in April 2011; 9 HR, 8 SB in June 2011).

He's doing all of this whereas taking part in repeatedly at shortstop for the primary time in his profession, and doing so greater than capably. Defensive Runs Saved tab Betts as plus-5 on the place, the place he has began 21 instances, whereas Outs Above Common has Betts at minus-1 at shortstop.

Betts additionally had a hitting streak of 57 consecutive plate appearances earlier than hanging out twice on the final day of the month.

“The factor that stands out essentially the most is his plate self-discipline. He's not simply chasing,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “He makes use of the large a part of the sector. He’s clearly closed, however he controls the zone very effectively.”

The brand new ace

Tyler Glasnow's first month with the Dodgers confirmed all of the explanation why the group traded him and signed him to a contract extension till 2028. He leads the majors in strikeouts (53) and leads the Nationwide League in innings pitched (43), solely. two outs shy of main league chief Jose Berríos of the Blue Jays.

Though main the league in innings for a complete season — for somebody whose 120 innings in 2023 was a profession greatest — is an unreasonable objective, Glasnow's depth in video games is effective in and of itself. He averaged 6.14 innings per begin. Final 12 months, solely 15 pitchers averaged a minimum of six innings in a minimum of 10 begins.

Glasnow has a 2.72 ERA and a couple of.56 xERA on the finish of April, with almost half (6) of his (13) runs allowed all coming in a begin throughout which he was sick.

It was Minnesota's 14-strikeout sport, essentially the most by a Dodgers pitcher in 5 years. There was the eight-inning, 10-strikeout sport in opposition to the Mets, the longest outing by a Dodgers pitcher since 2022. Glasnow put himself in choose firm with no walks in that 14-Ok sport, and with a pair of prolonged scoreless begins is. in a stable group as effectively.

Notes

Shohei Ohtani's first month with the Dodgers has been a hit, hitting .336/.399/.618 with a 184 wRC+, and his seven dwelling runs are already tied (with Dave Roberts!) for many profession dwelling runs by a Dodgers participant born in Japan. Othani additionally has 14 doubles, almost half of his profession excessive (30), and a triple. His 22 extra-base hits are one shy of the most important league file earlier than Could 1, and are the second most for the Dodgers by the primary 32 video games of the season, behind solely Adrián González in 2015.

Ohtani additionally handed Hideki Matsui for essentially the most dwelling runs in MLB historical past by a Japanese-born participant, ending the month with 178 lengthy balls within the majors.

Will Smith already has 4 four-hit video games this season, matching his whole for the opposite 5 common seasons of his profession. It's essential to notice right here that 4 hits isn’t Smith's profession excessive for a sport, as he had 5 hits in Recreation 3 of the 2020 NLDS to finish a sweep of San Diego.

On the opposite aspect of the spectrum, Chris Taylor had one of many worst months in Los Angeles Dodgers historical past. He had simply three hits in 49 at-bats and 24 strikeouts in 59 plate appearances, together with an 0-for-31 stretch. His .251 OPS is the second worst for the reason that franchise moved west in 1958, behind solely Luis Cruz, whose .208 OPS in April 2013 appeared on the high – or backside, in case you want – of this listing.

Taylor's three hits are tied for the fewest by a Los Angeles Dodger in a month with a minimum of 50 PA, together with catcher Yasmani Grandal, who completed 2015 with a 3-for-51, .364-OPS September.

Welcome aboard

4 gamers made their main league debuts for the Dodgers within the first month of the season. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the primary, and he was hit in Seoul for 5 runs in a single inning. The 25-year-old has been significantly better since, posting a 2.00 ERA and a couple of.57 FIP over his final 5 begins. On the season, Yamamoto's 31.9 % strikeout share ranks seventh amongst most pitchers with a minimum of 20 innings.

The opposite three begins all got here in a collection, April 15-17 in opposition to the Nationals at Dodger Stadium, over three consecutive days.

Ricky Vanasco pitched two scoreless innings that Monday, then was optioned to Triple-A the following day.

Andy Pages earned a spot within the outfield with Jason Heyward's again damage, and has impressed ever since. Pages began each one among his 13 video games on the energetic roster in April, and hit .300/.327/.520 with 5 doubles, two dwelling runs, a 135 wRC+, and stable play in middle and the proper area.

Landon Knack allowed two runs in his first main league inning, together with a house run to his first batter confronted. He settled down after that and went 5 innings with out additional harm. He obtained his first main league win on April 24 in Washington DC, and has a 2.81 ERA and 4.29 xERA in his three begins.

The month forward

In Could, the Dodgers play 14 street video games and 13 video games at Dodger Stadium. It's a month completely within the Nationwide League, with interleague play resuming in June. Throughout Could, the Dodgers have 4 days off, all Thursdays.



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