San Diego Padres closer Kirby Yates is enjoying a great season. The same can clearly not be said about plenty of MLB teams.
Yates picked up his 20th save of the season Wednesday as the Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2. As Dennis Lin of The Athletic, five MLB teams have yet to reach 20 wins.
Indeed, the Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins have yet to hit 20 wins.
Obviously, Yates is having a great season. He’s five saves clear of Shane Greene for the MLB lead. Yates also has a 1.13 ERA, 0.958 WHIP, and has struck out 44 hitters in 24 innings. So, he’s been dominant.
Still, this is the kind of stat that we’d expect to see in the early weeks of the season. Nearly two months into the season and less than a week before Memorial Day, we’re past the point of small sample sizes. Yates has been really good, but a number of MLB teams need to pick up the pace.