National League notes
NL EAST Atlanta Braves
The April 28 return of OF Ronald Acuña Jr. after 292 days recovering from a torn ACL gave Braves manager Brian Snitker the chance to write out the lineup he had planned for this season. Snitker put Acuña into the leadoff spot he filled before getting hurt, with 1B Matt Olson, 3B Austin Riley, DH Marcell Ozuna and 2B Ozzie Albies behind him.
“That starting pitcher (on the other team) sees the first four, five guys and knows they’ve got to navigate through that four times,” Snitker told reporters.
While the Braves won the World Series without having Acuña for the second half of the season, the return of one of their best players gave them a needed early-season boost.
“That’s the moment everyone was waiting for,” Ozuna told reporters.
h Postseason star Eddie Rosario’s slow start at the plate (3for-44) became easier to understand when an eye exam showed he has blurred vision that required laser surgery. He is expected to miss 8-12 weeks.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins never won more than four games in a row in their disappointing 2021 season. They won the final seven in April this year.
The winning streak was built mostly on starting pitching, with Marlins starters going six innings in four of the seven wins and allowing more than one run in just two of the seven games.
“We pitch really well as a group,” LHP Jesus Lazardo told reporters, after allowing one run on two hits in six innings April 30 against the Seattle Mariners. “Having Sandy (Alcantara) and Pablo (Lopez) at the front doing their thing, it kind of makes it easier on the guys at the back.”
Lopez had a 0.39 ERA through four starts, and Alcantara was at 2.90 through five.
h Four years after trading Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers for four players, the Marlins no longer have any of the four in their organization. 2B Isan Diaz was the last one, and he was traded April 30 to the Giants for a player to be named later or cash.
New York Mets
The Mets’ first no-hitter was pitched by Johan Santana in 2012. Their second was started by RHP Tylor Megill, who had just a half-season of major league experience before 2022 but is quickly getting attention.
“He’s got some really good stuff,” Phillies OF Bryce Harper told reporters after Megill threw the first five innings of the April 29 game. “He’s got really good length on his heater. It’s like you’re on it, and then you’re not.”
The 26-year-old Megill became the Mets’ opening-day starter when Jacob deGrom went down with an injury and Max Scherzer wasn’t ready to step in. Megill went 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in five starts in April, holding opponents to a .182 batting average and .522 OPS.
Manager Buck Showalter pulled Megill after five innings of the no-hitter because he had already thrown 88 pitches. Four relievers finished the game, combining to throw 71 more pitches in the final four innings.
h As MLB rosters had to be trimmed to 26 players by May 2, the Mets designated Robinson Canó for assignment. The Mets still owe the 39-year-old infielder around $40.5 million between the 2021 and 2022 seasons. However, in 12 games, Cano batted .195. Also May 2, MLB suspended Showalter for a game and fined him an undisclosed amount after it deemed that RHP Yoan López had intentionally thrown at the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber May 1.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies haven’t really had a full-time center fielder since Odúbel Herrera started
128 games in 2018. Four years later, it’s Herrera who is making a bid to become the full-time center fielder again.
Herrera came off the injured list April 22 and started six of nine games in center field. He hit .389 with a 1.400 OPS in his first 10 days on the roster.
Manager Joe Girardi told reporters he wants to play Matt Vierling in center field against some left-handers, and eventually Mickey Moniak will come off the disabled list and bid for playing time in center field.
h The rule change that brought the DH rule to the NL has been a benefit to the Phillies and RF Bryce Harper, who as of the end of April had not played in the field in two weeks due to a sore elbow.
Washington Nationals
OF Juan Soto was already a star when he joined the Nationals
in 2018 at 19, but he was surrounded by other stars on a team that a year later would win the World Series.
Now Soto is 23 and he’s the only real star on a team that finished last in the National League East in 2021 and was in last place again a month into the 2022 season. And now he is struggling, too.
In the final 13 games of the month, he had just one home run and two RBI.
h The Nationals rotation could eventually get a doubleboost with the return of RHP Stephen Strasburg and RHP Joe Ross, both of whom were expected to throw live batting practice in the first week of May. Strasburg hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since June 1 of last year and is recovering from thoracic outlet surgery. Ross hasn’t pitched for the Nationals since Aug. 10 and is recovering from bone spur surgery.
NL CENTRAL Chicago Cubs
The Cubs traded Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez last season. Yet in a season when offenses around baseball have been challenged so far, the Cubs’ hitting attack ranks among the best in the major leagues. Chicago was sixth in batting average with a .246 mark through 22 games and their 4.36 runs per game ranked in the top 10.
LF Ian Happ was 10th in the National League in hitting with a .303 average and RF Seiya Suzuki was tied for 11th in home runs with four in his first season. However, they were the only Cubs ranking in the top 10 in any of the major statistical categories.
h Before the Cubs lost at the Braves April 28, C Willson Contreras and his brother and fel