MLB’s first quarter report card: Best, worst, and in-between

I hate to go all Brewers on you here, but Carlos Gomez and Jean Segura have to take the price. Gomez is such a good athlete that he made it to the majors at 21 and stayed up despite hitting just .243/.291/.357 in his first five seasons. Power arrived in 2011, his ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) jumping from his career .102 to .177, then stepping up again to .202 last year. On-base percentage was still a problem, but when you play a rangy center field and run the bases at light speed, the overall package makes up for any one deficiency. This year, though, none of that applies -- Gomez is leading the National League in batting average and has already hit six home runs, leading to .365/.404/.620 rates.

Segura, a seemingly nondescript piece of the Zack Greinke trade, has come on like a late-‘90s Derek Jeter on vitamins (not steroids, because we all know that Jeter never does anything wrong), hitting .349/.392/.575 with seven home runs and leading the NL in stolen bases with 13 swipes in 15 tries. Segura was a .313 hitter in the minors, so his hitting for average isn't a complete surprise, but he homered once every 60 at-bats -- by that standard he should have about three home runs now.

Josh Donaldson of the A's doesn't come as a total surprise -- he hit .290/.356/.489 and played excellent defense after taking over third base from Brandon Inge last August, but at .316/.390/.520 he's showing that he gave an honest accounting of himself. Other possibilities: Vernon Wells of the Yankees, James Loney (a league-leading .379 average for the Rays).

No doubt some would take Matt Harvey or Clay Buchholz here, but Harvey has all the talent in the world and Buchholz has been pitching well since last May, albeit not this well. The same might apply to Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma, who had a 2.65 ERA in 16 starts last year. He's definitely taken a step forward, cutting his walk rate by more than half, but his success still shouldn't come as a total surprise. The same can't be said of Travis Wood of the Cubs, who has a 2.03 ERA in eight starts -- his career mark entering the season was 4.22. He seemed like just another fifth starter on a second-division club, but he's had good luck on balls in play this year -- the .196 BABIP against him is the second-lowest on the circuit. He's wedged between Matt Harvey and fellow Cub Scott Feldman, another guy whose results come as something of a shock.

There are many veteran possibilities here. Jeff Keppinger has been the worst player in baseball by at least one measure, but last season's .325 average was something of a fluke, and Keppinger's skill set is such that if he's not hitting .300 he's not helping you. Victor Martinez has been terrible, but the guy is 34 and missed a year, so what do you want? Adam Dunn has been a mess, at least until the last two games, but he was here in 2011 as well, so we can't exactly claim to be surprised. As such, I'm going to go with Atlanta's B.J. Upton (.145/.242/.244, not getting better) and Josh Hamilton (.214/.264/.358 and battling illness).

Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong's major-league comeback after five years away from the majors was a great story in 2011. It still is and always will be, but it might now be a case of, "We'll always have Paris": Vogelsong's eight starts have resulted in an 8.06 ERA and a league-worst 11 home runs. Here's hoping he has another rabbit under his cap.

Shin-Soo Choo has quietly been an excellent player for years. He's outdone himself so far this year with the Reds, hitting .322/.465/.589 with nine home runs. His OBP leads the NL, and oddly enough Dusty Baker bats him leadoff. Call this a tie with Justin Upton, who leads the NL with 13 home runs. He's been pretty quiet in May, perhaps because teams are starting to pitch around him. Granted, that beats at him: Choo has been hit by a pitch a league-leading dozen times.

Photo credit: Andy Lyons

Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles; Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals.

Aaron Hicks, Minnesota Twins; Lonnie Chisenhall, Cleveland Indians; Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, Kansas City Royals.

The Kansas City Royals have a +17 run differential. Given the third-worst aggregate infield production in the league, they might not be able to keep that up, especially if Lorenzo Cain regresses and their outfield production starts to drop off.

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports

Jose Altuve (.333/.371/.444).

Eduardo Nunez, New York Yankees. When Jayson Nix looks like the better alternative, you know there's a problem.

Giancarlo Stanton, healthy or injured.

Padres outfielder Will Venable is an excellent defender who is hitting .250/.330/.450 due to unusually robust hitting at home. He's a career .270/.338/.444 hitter away from Petco, so this is what he's capable of doing in a fair park. His road stats are uncharacteristically flat, so if he can maintain his hot hand at home (perhaps the new dimensions have given him a boost) and get back to his normal production elsewhere, he's going to have a breakout year at 30.

In the NL, Dusty Baker has batted Zack Cozart second in 28 of his 36 games despite his hitting .214/.242/.352 this year and .246/.288/.399 last year. In the AL, Terry Francona has kept Carlos Santana in the fifth or sixth spots (for eight and 20 games, respectively) despite his .430 OBP (following up on his very respectful .365 last season), while Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera have been locked in the second and third slots.

Mark Melancon, Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh Pirates; Kevin Gregg, Chicago Cubs.

Carlos Marmol, Chicago Cubs.

Ichiro Suzuki, New York Yankees; Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox.

St. Louis Cardinals if they keep up their great starting pitching, Miami Marlins if they continue to excel at not hitting.