The 10 best MLB players in May

Austin Meadows, Tampa Bay Rays

May Stats: 1.112 OPS, .315 ISO, 6 homers, 16 RBI, good for a 195 wRC+ in 84 plate appearances

Think the Rays are happy they finally decided to pull the trigger and send Chris Archer to Pittsburgh last summer? Yea, I think so, too.

Meadows had a terrific start to 2019, and it wouldn’t have been shocking to see him come back down to reality a bit from the 188 wRC+ he posted in March/April. Not quite, though — he just took his production to a slightly higher level instead.

"This guy is an MVP candidate."@TheMayorsOffice had high praise for @austin_meadows in yesterday's #MLBTonight breakdown. #RaysUp @RaysBaseball pic.twitter.com/nVACL0rcRb

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) May 30, 2019

When your offensive performance is comparable to Mike Trout, you know you’re doing something right.

Meadows is armed with an incredibly high .396 BABIP, which likely has something to do with his also very-high 46.9% hard-hit rate and 29.2% line-drive rate. The outfielder’s results for this specific batted-ball event have also been eye-opening. Compared to last season, his wRC+ has gone from 317 to 365, his soft-hit rate has gone from 13.3% to 6.1%, and his hard-hit rate has improved from 40.0% to 54.6%.

So having that lift in peripherals plus hitting line drives more frequently is going to yield a high BABIP. It also helps that he’s just tattooing four-seamers. This is the most common pitch he’s seen, and he’s slashing .415/.492/.792 against it, which susses out to a 248 wRC+.