The 2021 MLB season has been filled with surprisingly good players and many disappointing players. Players who seemed like they had broken out in the shortened 2020 season haven’t filled their expectations, which has hurt many teams. In this article, I will be going over each MLB team’s most disappointing player in the AL East.
The Boston Red Sox have been flaming hot to begin this season starting 25-17 as I’m writing this article, and there aren’t too many disappointments so far but one disappointing player is Franchy Cordero. Cordero isn’t necessarily a great player by any means, but he has acquired via trade this offseason in hopes that he could be a decent offensive piece for Boston. He’s struck out 36 times, only walked six times, and has a terrible slash-line of .167/.222/.226. Cordero has the skills but hasn’t put them to use yet this season.
The Toronto Blue Jays are another team that hasn’t been disappointing at all this season, but the most disappointing player is very clear, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. The past three seasons Gurriel has solidified himself as a premier offensive outfielder for Toronto, but this season he’s been anything but that. In 36 games he has only walked three times and has struck out 29 times. It doesn’t help that Gurriel is a way below-average defender, however, I do anticipate that Gurriel will get back on track, but if he doesn’t the Jays might have to find a replacement for Gurriel for the time being.
The Rays most disappointing player has been Shortstop, Willy Adames. Similar to the players above, Adames has been terrible offensively so far. Adames has an excellent walk rate of 16.7%, but an awful strikeout rate of about 35%. Adames has been a great defender per usual, but he needs to pick it up offensively.
Gleyber Torres has definitely been the most disappointing player for the overall disappointing Yankees. The 2x All-Star has shown no signs of returning to his All-Star form and has only hit ONE home run this season through 33 games. This is the same guy who hit 38 in 2019. Like Gurriel it doesn’t help that Torres is a below-average defender, Gleyber does have a solid K and BB rate, so he could just be getting unlucky so far.
There’s not much to say about Ryan Mountcastle, but he’s been a bit disappointing coming off of a great shortened season. He doesn’t take walks and strikes out around 30% of the time. He has a not-so-great slash line of .218/.240/.338. The shortened season has not meant much to how good a player has been this season, but he had high hopes that he hasn’t fulfilled.
Next up will be the AL Central.
Responses
Great article! I love this series