Matt Johnson
Entering Tuesday’s Major League Baseball action, every club but the New York Yankees and Sacramento Athletics had played double-digit games. While it’s a very small sample size in a 162-game season, it’s still always fun to take a look at a few wild MLB stats right now.
Let’s dive into a few wild MLB stats from the first few weeks of the season.
47.7 Percent: Strikeout Rate for Minnesota Twins’ Matt Wallner
The Minnesota Twins don’t have a ton of sources for hope in 2026; that’s just the reality under this ownership. One thing fans are certainly hoping for is to see hometown hero Matt Wallner, who starred at Forest Lake High School in Minnesota and grew up in the region, put it all together after being selected with the 39th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft by the Twins. Through his first 10 games, Wallner has the highest strikeout rate in baseball at 47.7 percent, and he’s one of just five players with a strikeout rate at 40-plus percent. He’s struck out multiple times in 6-of-10 games this season, including a five-strikeout game on April 3. However, there’s another thing to note with Wallner: thanks to his 3 home runs and a double, he also ranks 12th among right fielders in slugging (.463)—ahead of Kyle Tucker (.389)—and he sports an above-average 111 OPS+.
15: Overturned ABS Calls Against HP Umpire Andy Fletcher
Major League Baseball set itself up for a lot of intrigue this season with the introduction of the ABS challenge system. It’s largely been received well by fans, with players and managers starting to take an increasingly favorable view of it. Entering MLB games on Tuesday, per ESPN, umpire Andy Fletcher leads all his peers in ball-strike calls challenged (17), and a whopping 15 of them have been overturned for an 88.2 percent overturn rate. For comparison, CB Bucknor has had 9 calls challenged and 7 overturned.
.299 vs .188: Batting Average of Dodgers Lineup vs Mariners Lineup
The best team that money can buy certainly looks like it right now. Heading into action on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup led all teams in batting average (.299) and OPS (.889) with the fifth-lowest strikeout rate (19.9 percent) and the second-most runs scored. What we didn’t expect was a horrendous start from the Seattle Mariners lineup. AL MVP contenders Cal Raleigh (.146 BA) and Julio Rodriguez (.143 BA) are the current faces of a Mariners batting order that is the only team in baseball with a sub-.190 batting average. This is just one of three teams—along with the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago Cubs—collectively below the Mendoza line (.200 batting average).
10: Atlanta Braves’ Fielding Run Value
With so many key starters on the injured list to open the season, the Atlanta Braves needed their everyday players to step up in a big way. Mission accomplished. The Braves aren’t just the best team in baseball defensively; they are lapping the field. Not only does Atlanta rank first in Baseball Savant’s Fielding Run Value (10), but their total is more than the seventh through 17th-best teams combined (Chicago Cubs, 3 FRV). We often talk about defensive clinics in football or basketball, but there’s one happening right now on the diamond put on by the Braves.
.938: OPS of MIL Brewers Lineup with Runners On Base
The Milwaukee Brewers are doing it again. This club just seemingly finds ways to be a perennial winner each season and it’s no different in 2026, with the club off to as hot of a start as the Dodgers and New York Yankees. One reason for the team’s success is timely hitting. The Brewers lineup leads all of baseball in OPS with runners on base (.938) and it leads all teams in batting average (.316) in the same situation. Surely there’ll be some statistical regression here, but just keep in mind that the Brewers’ pitching staff also ranks eighth in ERA (3.44) and boasts the third-highest strikeout rate (28.5 percent) in the majors.
