Players of the Month: April

The first month of the 2018 season is in the books, with most teams having played anywhere from 26 to as many as 30 games (equivalent to spring training, more or less). Let's have a look at who's off to hot starts:

The Piazza Division looks like the powerhouse out of the gate. It was the only division with all teams over .500, and occupied the most playoff slots thanks to Sardine City and Marietta holding down the wild cards positions behind division leader Hillsborough. Even .500 Livingston was on the cusp of the playoff hunt. So it's no surprise the Piazza Division had best overall record (65-47, .580).

The Hernandez Division had the largest disparity, with 11 games already separating Vancouver from last-place Allentown (7-21), and the worst record overall (50-62, .446). In the Clemente Division (52-57, .477), only three games separated the four teams. Although Philly was the only winning record, the Bonds Division was just a game back of .500 overall (56-57, .496).

1. Hillsborough, 19-9 (.679)
2. Vancouver, 17-9 (.654)
3. Philly, 18-10 (.643)
4. Ark, 15-13 (.536)
5. Sardine City, 17-10 (.630)*
6. Marietta, 15-14 (.517)*
7. Livingston, 14-14 (.500)
8. Empire City, 13-13 (.500)
9. Hoboken, 14-16 (.467)
10. Hopatcong, 13-15 (.464)
11. El Paso, 13-16 (.448)
12. Poovey Farms, 13-16 (.448)
13. Blue Ridge, 13-16 (.448)
14. Tucson, 11-15 (.423)
15. San Francisco, 11-16 (.407)
16. Allentown, 7-21 (.250)

* indicates wild card
Hillsborough and Vancouver ended April on the hottest streaks, winning 7 and 5 in a row, respectively to take over the league lead from Philly. Hopatcong hit a 6-game skid the finish the month.

Vancouver did it with offense, scoring a league-high 161 runs and +43 run differential -- ahead of Poovey Farms (151 runs) and Philly (+36) -- and a 15-7 road record (just 2-2 at home). Philly also had a six-game win streak during the month while going 15-7 at home. Sardine City and Philly allowed the fewest runs, both still under 100, at 95 and 90, respectively.

Marietta played the most road games (25), going 11-14 while San Francisco had the most home games (24), going 10-14.

Batting
As for individual players, Philly's Daniel Murphy and Hoboken first-rounder Austin Barnes seemed head and shoulders ahead of everyone else in April, ranking 1-2 in a bunch of batting categories.

Murphy led the league in batting (.415) with Barnes right behind (.398). He led the league in slugging (.745), ranked right behind Barnes in RC/27 (15.9 to 16.2), far ahead of the field (Philly's Michael Conforto was third at 10.7), and OPS (1.211 to Barnes' 1.191). Barnes had the most hits (47), having played three more games than Murphy, and ranked third in slugging (.695) and first in OBP (.496) and total bases (83).

Everyone knows chicks dig the long ball though. And for power, you turn to Empire City rookie Aaron Judge, who had 12 dongs in April, one more than Yoenis Cespedes of Hopatcong and Marietta's Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton, who tied for second in RBI (26), was the first to slam three homers in a game this year, doing it Friday night against Sardine City in his last three at-bats.

It's not surprising to find Charlie Blackmon atop of the RBI lead (27) given Vancouver's offense but Blue Ridge's Michael Taylor would be unexpected as the co-leader. His 2-homer, 6-RBI game on the final day of April helped. Taylor also tied with Hillsborough first-rounder Joey Gallo with a league-high 37 strikeouts in April.

El Paso's Corey Dickerson quietly slugged .735, while still batting .315, with a league-high 24 extra base hits and matched Barnes for the league lead in total bases (83) and doubles (14) for April. Vancouver's J.D. Martinez led the league in runs scored (25) and ranked among the leaders in RBI (25).

Six players had hit streaks of 12 games (including an active one by Evan Longoria of Sardine City) but it was Murphy who had the longest, at 13 games. The Philly 2B also found himself just one RBI behind the leaders, so for those reason, we'll give Murphy the edge as the DMBL Batter of the Month for April 2018.

Pitching
Six pitchers had 4 wins in April, including Blue Ridge's Trevor Bauer, who had the most decisions (4-2) but most ran a record of 4-1: Vancouver's Brandon McCarthy, Marietta's Luis Severino, Blue Ridge reliever Craig Stammen. Hillsborough reliever Shane Greene remained unbeaten (4-0) thanks to a win on the final day of April, to go with 2 saves in 13 appearances.

El Paso rookie Luis Castillo had best ERA in April at 1.72 but Philly's Zack Godley led the league not only in WHIP (0.92) but also hit the trifecta in April, with league-best percentages in batting against, OBP against and SLG against, which warrants serious consideration for Pitcher of the Month.

Sardine City ace Corey Kluber led the league in strikeouts (62), followed by left-handers Chris Sale (55) and Clayton Kershaw (52). He dominated in K/B ratio (13.5), far ahead of Livingston's Jacob deGrom (8.5). Kluber also was right behind in WHIP (0.96) too.

Four pitchers twirled shutouts in the opening month: Michael Fulmer, Marcus Storman, Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw had the highest game score (92) among those shutouts, thanks to an 11-strikeout, 3-hit shutout on opening day in Blue Ridge, but it was Kluber who had the highest game score overall (97). He also yielded just 3 hits over 9 innings and even fanned a season-high 16 but Sardine City fell to Hillsborough in 12 innings, 1-0. Between the highest game score and a league-best 16 strikeouts, we'll hand the Pitcher of the Month for April 2018 to Kluber.

Hillsborough ace Carlos Martinez matched Kluber through 9 in that game but also got a no-decision; he led the league in innings (47.1) thanks to two complete games. Fulmer, the only other pitcher with two complete game, finished tied with Kershaw and Kluber in innings (44.7).

In the relief department, Sardine City closer Andrew Miller had a league-high 8 saves. Four others had 6 saves, including Hillsborough's Wade Davis, Chad Green of Marietta, Philly's Emilio Pagan and Roberto Osuna of Blue Ridge.