And we enter the second month of the season! Whoo Hoo!

Which means we have monthly awards for the first time, and we have our first review of the early standings.

#Awards

Miami‘s Robin Yount is the AL Player of the Week, hitting .450 with 2 homeruns, 6 runs and 5 RBI, and slugging an even 1.000. Yount is up to .283 with 6 homeruns and 12 doubles on the year.

The NL Player of the Week goes to Grant Johnson of the New York Gothams for the second week running: Johnson hit .409 with 3 homeruns, 3 doubles and 7 RBI while slugging .955. Overall, he’s hitting .379 with 9 homeruns and a league-leading 15 doubles.

In the minors: Freddie Lindstrom (Chicago American Giants) took the award at AAA Milwaukee, where the 21-year-old third baseman is hitting .306 with 7 homeruns, making his early demotion seem a bit of a mistake in judgement by the American Giants; Raúl Mondesi (Wandering House of David) won at AA Albuquerque, and Al López (Brooklyn) at A-ball Albany, where the 33-year-old catcher is hitting .426.

#April Awards

The first month is in the books, and one name on the list is no surprise at all.

Ted Williams (Memphis) is the AL Batter of the Month, having hit .437 with 14 homeruns, 30 runs and 34 RBI in April while slugging an even 1.000. Grant Johnson takes the NL award–not a surprise given the above.

Waite Hoyt (Chicago) is the AL Pitcher of the Month, going 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 36.2 innings. For a team whose primary weakness was dependable starting pitching, the acquisition of Hoyt sure looks like good work for Chicago.

Over in the NL, the Pitcher of the Month goes to one of Johnson’s teammates on the Gothams, Christy Mathewson. Seemingly returning to his 2000 form, Matty has started the season perfectly, going 6-0 with a 2.27 ERA.

Whitey Ford (New York Black Yankees) went 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA in April, earning the AL Rookie of the Month Award, and in the NL, Philadelphia‘s Harmon Killebrew is the Rookie of the Month, despite only hitting .255. 9 homeruns in a calendar month will do that.

The minors have their own monthly awards too, of course.

At AAA, Roger Maris of the New York Black Yankees was the Batter of the Month, hitting .418 with 11 homeruns at Newark, and Mike Scott (Los Angeles) won the Pitcher of the Month, going 4-1 with a 1.98 ERA. Cody Bellinger (Wandering House of David) hit .404 at AA Albuquerque and Hugh Mulcahy (Homestead) went 3-0 with a 1.93 at AA Syracuse. At A-ball, John Bass (Philadelphia) hit 10 homeruns and Fred Gladding (Indianapolis) allowed only 2 earned runs in 15.1 innings, as they took home the monthly honors.

#Team Performance

I know it’s early. You know it’s early. Still, it is May. And that’s no longer April, right?

The best records in the WBL belong to two surprise teams: Memphis leads the Bill James Division and Philadelphia tops the Effa Manley, each with a 20-11 record–that’s a .645 clip.

Ottawa (a game behind Philadelphia) and Chicago (leading the Cum Posey Division) are the only other teams playing over .600 ball.

The Baltimore Black Sox sit at the other end of the scale, already 11.5 games out in the Bill James Division, sitting at 8-22. But they aren’t the only major disappointments: both Birmingham and Indianapolis are only winning at a .333 clip (10-20).

Full standings are at the top of each divisional page for the curious.

#Player Performance

Five weeks in, qualifying is 3.1 plate appearances or 1 inning per team game — about 96 PA and 31 innings.

Some early season streaks of note: The Gothams’ Grant Johnson has a 15 game hitting streak going and Memphis’ Ted Williams has reached base in 30 straight. On the mound, Chicago’s Joel Horlen hasn’t allowed a run in 23 innings and Kansas City’s Smokey Joe Wood in 14.

#Batters

Ted Williams is still the story, and it is getting harder to describe without sounding like an advertisement: he leads the WBL in batting average, on-base, slugging, homeruns, runs, RBI, walks and WAR, outright. That only leaves 2B, 3B, and SB for others.

This list should reduce a little over time, but it’s got some decent WBL storylines in it–the resurgence of a healthy Pete Browning, Rico Carty‘s deal with the devil to combat his age, Cool Papa Bell giving Rickey Henderson some competition for the SB crown, etc.

But it’s really all about The Splendid Splinter for now.

Ernie Banks (HOD). .225/.299/.549. 9 HR, 27 RBI.
Cool Papa Bell (KAN). .204/.295/.280. 10 SB.
Dan Brouthers (BRK). .369/.416/.612. 11 2B.
Pete Browning (HOD). .331/.389/.508. 10 2B, 9 SB.
Rico Carty (PHI). .374/.442/.670.
Oscar Charleston (IND). .300/.341/.642. 12 HR, 29 RBI, 1.9 WAR.
Roberto Clemente (HOM). .372/.413/.698. 7 HR.
Ty Cobb (DET). .345/.390/.708. 10 HR, 2.0 WAR.
Eric Davis (NYY). .260/.353/.452. 8 SB.
Lou Gehrig (NYY). .288/.373/.635. 25 RBI.
Hank Greenberg (DET). .272/.348/.476. 4 3B.
Bobby Grich (BBB). .202/.362/.279. 22 BB.
Rickey Henderson (SFS). .229/.333/.365. 9 SB.
Grant Johnson (NYG). .379/.402/.741. 9 HR, 15 2B, 1.6 WAR.
Harmon Killebrew (PHI). .275/.325/.569. 10 HR.
Willie Mays (NYG). .289/.344/.588. 25 R.
Joe Morgan (IND). .253/.405/.374. 23 BB.
Jackie Robinson (BRK). .336/.381/.509. 14 2B.
Babe Ruth (NYY). .232/.387/.611. 11 HR, 21 BB.
Chino Smith (CAG). .292/.324/.736. 13 HR, 30 R, 32 RBI.
Mike Trout (LAA). .300/.349/.567. 12 2B.
Ted Williams (MEM). .419/.533/.914. 15 HR, 33 R, 39 RBI, 27 BB, 2.7 WAR.

#Pitchers

#Starters

There’s nowhere near the single person dominance on the mound–early days, of course, but it looks like we may have some good years on the mound coming.

Brett Anderson (HOD). 4-2, 2.84.
Steve Carlton (PHI). 4-1, 2.56. 41 K.
Don Drysdale (MEM). 2-1, 2.48. 49 K.
Bob Feller (CLE). 1-4, 4.58. 52 K.
Whitey Ford (NYY). 3-2, 3.19. 2.94 FIP.
Ned Garvin (BAL). 1-2, 4.10. 50 K, .208 BABIP.
Lefty Gomez (BBB). 2-4, 2.82. 2.30 FIP.
Dwight Gooden (LAA). 2-2, 4.30. 1.96 FIP, 1.7 WAR.
Lefty Grove (SFS). 3-1, 3.47. 62 K.
Waite Hoyt (CAG). 4-1, 2.52. 42 K, 2.60 FIP.
Walter Johnson (POR). 3-3, 2.76. 64 K, 2.66 FIP.
Christy Mathewson (NYG). 6-0, 2.74. 64 K, 49.1 IP.
José Méndez (MCG). 3-2, 2.57. 0.93 WHIP.
Joseíto Muñoz (POR). 2-0, 2.55. 46 K, 2.48 FIP.
David Price (HOM). 2-1, 2.90. 0.94 WHIP.
Charles Radbourn (OTT). 3-1, 1.57. 2.28 FIP, 1.5 WAR.
Toad Ramsey (HOU). 2-3, 3.24. 50 K, 2.53 FIP, 1.5 WAR.
Tom Seaver (MEM). 2-1, 1.59.
J.M. Ward (PHI). 4-2, 3.51. .213 BABIP.
Jim Whitney (MCG). 1-1, 3.40. 54 K, 0.86 WHIP.
Smokey Joe Wood (KAN). 3-0, 2.23. 47 K, 0.69 WHIP, 2.31 FIP.

#Relievers

Rate stats still want another week or two. The saves and holds:

Rod Beck (SFS). 1-2, 4.09. 7 Sv.
Dellin Betances (HOD). 2 Sv, 4 Hld.
Jack Billingham (POR). 3.60. 7 Sv.
Chad Bradford (DET). 2-2, 3.68. 5 Hld.
Jeurys Familia (LAA). 3.21. 5 Hld.
Eric Gagné (BRK). 0.75. 8 Sv.
Andrew Miller (MEM). 1.26. 6 Sv.
Jonathan Papelbon (MCG). 3.27. 7 Sv.
Eustaquio Pedroso (MCG). 4.87. 4 Hld.
Vito Tamulis (NYG). 3.38. 6 Hld.
Kent Tekulve (NYG). 2-0, 4.76. 5 Hld.
Brian Wilson (NYG). 1.74. 9 Sv.

Note that the Gothams may be back on track in their quest to rebuild their bullpen.

Two arms have yet to allow a run at all: Birmingham’s Kerry Ligtenberg over 16.1 innings, with 21 strikeouts and 4 hits allowed, and Chicago’s Joe Horlen over 20.2.

#Hardest Shots

Birmingham’s Eddie Mathews hit the hardest ball of the season so far, a 126 mph solo homerun. Mathews doesn’t hit many balls, but at least that one was a freaking rocket. Cleveland‘s Ed Bailey and Birmingham’s Bobby Grich also hit balls over 120 mph.

The hardest out belonged to a pitcher: Jim Whitney (Miami) flew out to center at 118 mph.

#Injuries

Houston‘s outfield took another hit–with Tony Gwynn already sidelined, the eternally underappreciated Jim Wynn will miss 2-3 weeks.

Frank Grant of the San Francisco Sea Lions is out a couple weeks and some other important names (Ottawa’s Gary Peters, Cleveland’s Louis Santop, Kansas City‘s Rube Foster, and Homestead’s Ricardo Rincón) will each miss about a week.