BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 02: Adam Frazier #12 of the Baltimore Orioles reacts with Austin Hays #21, MLB Power Rankings. (Photo by Nick Grace/Getty Images)
MLB Power Rankings taking a look at the biggest overreaction for each team after the first weekend of the season.
The first weekend of the new baseball season is in the books. What could the latest MLB Power Rankings possibly look like? We have only three or four games for each club to measure them. They’ve all seen just a single opponent.
Rather than try to read too much into what every club did, it might be more fun to overreact with the fans who are freaking out positively and negatively to what they’ve seen.
A single weekend isn’t enough to judge any ball club. Let’s acknowledge the outrageousness of reading too much into these early performances and admit these are all overreactions. But which overreactions are a little crazier than others? They’ll be ranked in order of how big the jump to a conclusion was with the number one spot being the biggest overreaction of all.
30) MLB Power Rankings: Washington Nationals, MacKenzie Gore is a 2023 All-Star
The Washington Nationals will send someone to the All-Star Game and MacKenzie Gore is certainly a candidate. His first start went well. He lasted 5.1 innings against the Atlanta Braves in what turned out to be a win for the Nationals. A pitcher is always a good candidate for a team in their position to eventually represent them in the All-Star festivities. Maybe in a few more starts this will feel less like an overreaction and more like an accepted fact of the future.
29) MLB Power Rankings: Kansas City Royals, The future is dark for this franchise
MJ Melendez was 0 for 9 and Bobby Witt went hitless in his 10 at-bats. The Kansas City Royals got knocked around this weekend against the Minnesota Twins. Anyone freaking out about the future of this franchise is overreacting. Yes, it’s going to be a long year. Stick with this team. It’ll hurt less in the future.
28) MLB Power Rankings: Baltimore Orioles, Adam Frazier is this team’s best hitter
The Baltimore Orioles had an interesting first weekend against the Boston Red Sox. Both teams showed strengths and weaknesses. A big strength of the Orioles was their offense mostly led by utility man Adam Frazier who went 5 for 8 with 3 doubles and a home run. The veteran presence of Frazier is definitely helpful for the Orioles. Thinking of him as the best hitter on the team, which he is numbers wise at the moment, is an overreaction that won’t age well.
27) MLB Power Rankings: Arizona Diamondbacks, Add Christian Walker to the NL MVP hopefuls
Here’s why this isn’t such an outrageous overreaction: Christian Walker is very good. The Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman has proven he can do a lot of things well. His first home run is out of the way and he’ll carry a .429/.429/.643 slash line with him into the second series of the season. Arizona didn’t have a very good start at the plate to begin the season. Walker was one exception and maybe he could be the guy to carry them.
26) MLB Power Rankings: Cincinnati Reds, Jonathan India is all out of bubblegum
Several Cincinnati Reds hitters got off to strong starts this weekend. One of the more exciting performances came from second baseman Jonathan India. He went 5 for 11 and is the proud owner of a .455/.538/.818 slash line after 3 games. Reds fans were disappointed to see him struggle so much in 2022 after winning the Rookie of the Year in 2021. He might be a sophomore slump sufferer. We’ll have to see how this season unfolds for the still promising and still young infielder.