Oakland A's on the MLB leaderboards

It is still very, very, early in the season, and there are still some hilarious statistics out there due to small sample size. Regardless, let's see which A's are among the league leaders!

Rich Hill, 5th in K% (pitchers)

Among starting pitchers, Rich Hill ranks 5th in all of baseball with a 33.7% strikeout percentage. That's right, one in three jabronis dumb enough to meander to the plate to face Hill and his vicious hook have been sent packing after three strikes and one or two balls well outside the strike zone.

Hill's is ahead of names like David Price, Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber and more, but is behind studs like Noah Syndegaard and whiff artist Khris Davis. Speaking of...

Khris Davis, 12th in K% (hitters)

You read that right, there are currently 11 hitters striking out more frequently than Khrush, and boy are there some names on that list. Russell Martin is number one, striking out in 42% of his at bats, Justin Upton is #2, Giancarlo Stanton #5.

Guys who swing for the fences are bound to miss, too, and thus is the life of Khris Davis. The good news is he's through what was hopefully the coldest stretch of his entire career and has moved on to making hard contact. The bad news is you can expect him to strikeout lots going forward, his 33.9% strikeout rate is only six percent above his 2015 total.

Rich Hill, first in HBP with 4

Remember when Rich Hill hit Adam Eaton with the opening pitch of 2016? Good times! Then two batters later Hill hit Jose Abreu, slightly less good times. Hill has reigned it in since then, hitting only two batters but his hot start has kept him atop the leaderboard, tied with Cole Hamels.

Billy Burns, seventh in contact percentage

If you're curious why Billy Burn's walk and strikeout rates have plummeted since reaching the bigs, look no further than his contact rate. When Billy swings, he makes contact 91% of the time so if he does choose to pull the trigger, there's a good chance his at bat will be over. Players ahead of Burns include John Jaso and Brett Gardner.

Kendall Graveman, third in groundball percentage at 64%

Remember when Kendall Graveman gave up way too many homeruns last season? Groundballs are pretty tough to hit out of the park, so I'm stoked to see Graveman inducing so many worm killers. Kendall's hot start and long term success is no doubt tied to this number, so keep an eye on it as the season wears on.

A's bullpen, 5th in innings pitched (62), 6th in fWAR (.9)

It seems like the A's pen has been called upon nightly and the numbers back it up. With 62 innings pitched, the pen has been taxed fifth most in baseball in spite of not having a long reliever in tow. Of course, they've been really good ranking seventh in ERA and helping fans forget the horrors of 2015.

A's defense, 3rd in total errors (16)

No way to pretend this doesn't suck - the A's are committing errors at a rate slightly less than the Braves, a minor league team trying their hand at major league play. The good news? The A's have still prevented runs at an impressive clip. The bad? Oh my god stop making errors it's not that hard.

Sonny Gray, 5th slowest Pace among starters at 25.5 seconds per pitch

You might not have known that PitchF/X tracks time between pitches, but it shouldn't surprise you to see Sonny this high on the list. The antsy ace is perpetually fidgeting, adjusting, and generally looking like he just ate Chipotle every time he's on the mound. In spite of this, he's a stud. Should be interesting if/when pitch clocks are introduced, though.

Liam Hendriks, Highest BABIP among relievers at .516

When hitters put the ball in play against Hendriks, they are reaching via basehit over 50% of the time. In a twisted way, this is good news since that number can really only go down, although there are legitimate concerns over Hendriks stuff thus far.

John Axford, 3rd in groundball rate among relievers at 76.7%

Axford's k's are down significantly thus far, but the improved groundball rate is exciting news to counter that problem. Where are they coming from? Can he sustain that number? These are two excellent questions, and I shall answer neither.

____________

What's your favorite? What did I miss? Dump away in the comments!