MLB Week 5 Hot or Not: Bobby Witt Jr. flirts with a franchise record, Rays and Nats losses add up

Teams are starting to distance themselves at the top and bottom of their divisions a full month in

It’s Sunday, so you know what that means. This week’s Hot or Not recap covers the fifth full week of the season, from April 27 to May 3.

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AL West
Hot: Seattle’s lineup is outhitting teams
The Mariners took the lead in the AL West with plenty of help from their active lineup. Seattle won five straight games, four of which came against division rivals, and outscored opponents, 36-14. The lineup held a .314 batting average with 11 doubles and nine home runs while drawing 19 walks. Seattle is doing everything it can to pull away from the pack, but the Athletics are on their heels.

Not: Texas’ bullpen is slipping quickly
Seeing the Rangers’ bullpen mess up this many times this early in the season is concerning. Texas’ relievers had a 6.23 ERA with 18 earned runs and 12 walks over 26 innings. Their worst performance came against the Athletics, when Robert Garcia, Luke Jackson, and Shawn Armstrong failed to get three simple outs, sending the game into extras. Instead, Jackson and Armstrong gave up two home runs in a pitiful loss to the A’s.

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AL Central
Hot: Bobby Witt Jr.’s hit streak neared a franchise record
As the player given the second-highest odds of winning the AL MVP, Witt’s streak ended at 22 games, tying the seventh-longest Royals franchise hit-streak record. He collected five hits and three walks in the last week to raise his OBP to .378. Witt has been an essential member of the Royals, and should continue to be for another decade.

Not: Spencer Torkelson’s hitting is slowing down
Torkelson’s bat couldn’t find the ball, hitting .095 with four runs, two home runs, and three RBIs. Although he drew four walks, Torkelson struck out six times and had issues against a team that is quickly unraveling as fans and analysts expected, and another team that is just better than .500. It’s still early, but Tigers fans don’t want to see him batting like this against weaker teams much longer.

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AL East
Hot: Boston has been a well-oiled machine
Boston’s success has truly been a team effort. Alex Bregman pounded three home runs, Rafael Devers recorded seven RBIs and Jarren Duran put up 11 hits in the last week. Although losing Triston Casas for (potentially) the season is a huge blow, the BoSox at least have a star-studded core lineup to get by.

Not: Shane Baz got lit up
Baz had been doing well until this week, when he had the misfortune of pitching against the Royals. He gave up nine hits, seven earned runs, and a dinger over 5 ⅓ innings in Tampa Bay’s 8-2 loss to Kansas City. During his outing, he only snagged one strikeout and gave up three ball-fours. All pitchers have their rough days, so hopefully this doesn’t become a habit for Baz.

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NL West
Hot: Andy Pages finally looks like a big leaguer
After six seasons of sitting on the Dodgers prospect list, Pages is finally looking like the baseball player fans hoped he’d be. He went 9-for-26 with five runs, seven RBIs, two home runs, and two walks in his last five games. It’s been a long time coming for Pages to get to this point, but it’s better now than never.

Not: Eugenio Suárez went cold overnight
Suárez went from hitting four home runs in one game to being ice-cold. In six games, he hit 4-for-23 with two runs, an RBI, and a walk. Although he didn’t get rung up too much, it’s alarming how fast Suárez heated up — then suddenly forgot how to hit a ball. Given his low batting average this season, his four-homer game should be seen as little more than a fluke.

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NL Central
Hot: Ben Brown blanks the Brewers
In the first game of the first three-game series against the reigning NL Central winners, Brown was unwavering in Chicago’s 10-0 stomping. Brown had six scoreless innings and only gave up four hits while striking out four in what was his most controlled and disciplined game of the season so far. He had plenty of run support to help him, but it doesn’t diminish his quality start.

Not: Pirates starters are getting roughed up
Even Paul Skenes is capable of getting banged around. Pittsburgh’s rotation was responsible for four of the team’s five losses last week after giving up 19 earned runs, resulting in a 5.70 ERA. This rotation hinges on Skenes being an ace with a couple magical performances from supporting pitchers sprinkled in, but if Skenes goes so do the Pirates.

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NL East
Hot: Marlins walk it off in style
Miami hasn’t had much going for them, but they managed to make something out of nothing last week. Down 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, Kyle Stowers took Mason Miller nearly 400 feet deep for a grand slam to walk the Marlins off. It was his first career grand slam and walk-off home run. The Marlins needed this epic win badly, as they sit at the bottom of the NL Central.

Not: Mitchell Parker shows why the Nats won’t have an easy season
James Wood and CJ Abrams can only carry the team so much before Mitchell Parker and the rest of the rotation start to give up runs. Parker’s two bad outings against the Mets and Reds amounted to 11 hits, 11 earned runs, and nine walks through nine innings. Although he somehow didn’t allow anyone to hit the ball into the bleachers, Parker’s lack of command is emblematic of Washington’s biggest weakness: pitching.