Sean Manaea, SP, Oakland Athletics
April was a very fun for Sean Manaea. The clear highlight was his no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox, but he finished the season’s first month with a 1.03 ERA and .179 wOBA against in 43.2 innings. June has also gotten off to a good start for the lefty (2.84 ERA in 12.2 innings), but it was May that completely erased his dominant start.
He compiled a 7.18 ERA and .381 wOBA against in 31.1 frames that month. Limiting hard contact has been an issue for Manaea throughout the start of 2018 — opponents have a 39.4% hard-hit rate against him thus far. However, his biggest problem in May was combining that with a spike in line-drive rate.
Manaea surrendered a .300 BABIP (compared to .148 in April) partly due to the opposition compiling a 30.1% line-drive rate with a 42.2% hard-hit rate. The constant has been his control — his 17.9% strikeout rate is on pace to be a career-worst mark, but his 5.0% walk rate is on pace to be a career-best mark.
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