In April There’s Always a Tyler Soderstrom and Wilmer Flores

Early season stat leaders are always fun. Here was a day when one morning you woke up and Tyler Soderstrom was leading the majors in homers and Wilmer Flores had more RBI than anyone in the game.

You’ve got the youngster in Sacramento. Last season the now twenty-three year old Soderstrom hit nine homers in limited MLB playing time. It took him 189 at bats in 2024, he’s reached that total first in the majors this season, needing just 73 at bats.

The thirty-three year old Flores has been around since 2013 but he looked to be falling off last season. He played in just seventy-one games and drove in only twenty-six, the worst total since his rookie season. Now he’s almost there in nineteen games.

Jake Mangum Anyone?

Sure it’s comforting to see Aaron Judge leading the big leagues in both hits and batting average but where did Jake Mangum come from? He’s one off the major league lead in steals behind the Pirates Oneil Cruz.

Mangum has sure waited for his time to come. The Rays outfielder is twenty-nine and had never played in a big league game until this season. That would be five years and more than sixteen hundred minor league at bats. That’s a lot of bus rides.

And just because you need to know this, Oneil Cruz’s dad was a huge New York Yankees fan and his son is actually named after retired outfielder Paul O’neill.

Mitchell Parker = Quality

Nationals’ starting pitcher Mitchell Parker is only in his second MLB season, finishing last year at 7-10 with a 4.29 ERA, but guess who leads the big leagues in quality starts? He shares top spot with Houston’s Hunter Brown.

The twenty five year old was drafted in the fifth round in 2020. After seventy-two minor league starts over four seasons and a modest rookie campaign, Parker is out of the blocks in fine form in 2025.

And by the way, while Aaron Judge does indeed lead the majors in hitting, the Rays Jonathan Arunda is right on his tail.