It only took 32 games for the Kansas City Royals to show hitting coach Terry Bradshaw the door, as the Royals have mustered only 118 runs, better than just three other teams, and they have only hit 21 home runs, third-worst in MLB. They sit at 12-20 but are just 6 ½ games back of Minnesota in the American League Central. The team has promoted Alec Zumwalt to take over the hitting coach duties. Zumwalt has led a change in hitting development in Kansas City’s minor league system, and his results have paid off, as M.J. Melendez won the Joe Bauman Awards last year for most home runs in the minors, and Bobby Witt Jr took the Minor League Player of the Year award in 2021. Both of those players are with the Royals this season. Read on to find our latest MLB power rankings and some insights on the teams that could influence your MLB betting.
MLB News: Power Rankings (Week 6)
#1 N.Y. Yankees
The Yankees are the last team to have just single digits in losses, and they haven’t dropped two in a row since April 10-11. They are fifth in runs scored (167) and tops in ERA (2.74). What looked like a long winning streak is turning into a dominant trend.
#2 L.A. Dodgers
Every team has ups and downs, and the Dodgers dropped two of three to Pittsburgh and almost got swept at home by Philadelphia. Given this team’s talent, this should be just a blip.
#3 Houston Astros
The Astros ran off a 12-game winning streak that got them into a tie with the Angels atop the AL West. Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia and Framber Valdez all have ERAs below 3.00, and the bullpen ERA (2.69) is second in MLB.
#4 N.Y. Mets
Brandon Nimmo has a 14.8% walk rate – with just a 15.6% strikeout rate, which means he’s a great asset at the top of the batting order.
#5 L.A. Angels
The starting rotation has an era of 2.97, good for fourth in MLB. Three of their starters are rookies (Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth and Jhonathan Diaz, and Detmers threw a no-hitter last week. Shohei Ohtani has a .296 average with five home runs in his last 21 games.
#6 San Francisco Giants
Brandon Belt had a .470 slugging percentage in April but only has one extra-base hit in 29 plate appearances in May. The Giants dropped two in St. Louis over the weekend and need to get back to winning to keep up in the NL West.
#7 Milwaukee Brewers
Christian Yelich is hitting again, to the relief of Brewers’ fans. However, look at Rowdy Tellez, whose expected slugging percentage is .738, second only to Aaron Judge among qualifying hitters.
#8 San Diego Padres
Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer are both raking, and Hosmer’s bat has been fairly silent since the 2019 season, so that return is welcome. His expected batting average (.315) and expected slugging percentage (.464) are way up this season.
#9 Tampa Bay Rays
Shane McClanahan has shown up as a legitimate ace pitcher, with an MLB-best 58 strikeouts through seven starts, thanks in large part to his change up, which produced a whiff rate of 52.8% and has not been put into play for a base hit yet in 2022.
#10 St. Louis Cardinals
Paul Goldschmidt got off to a slow start, with just one home run in April. However, in the first 13 games of May, he has a .362 batting average with three home runs among ten extra-base hits.
#11 Minnesota Twins
Minnesota’s ERA (3.34) ranks fifth in MLB, and that’s with just 14 ⅔ innings out of Sonny Gray. Chris Paddack Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan are all performing well above expectations.
#12 Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays have dropped nine of 12, and their offense has fallen off the table. Alek Manoah permitted three runs (just one earned) over six innings and has permitted no more than two earned runs in all seven of his starts, but the offense is not helping him out.
#13 Philadelphia Phillies
The Phils almost pulled off a four-game sweep at Dodger Stadium, when the bullpen collapsed with one strike to go. However, the offense has taken off, led by Jean Segura.
#14 Cleveland Guardians
Triston McKenzie has pitched 36 ⅓ innings in the rotation, and his ERA remains under 3.00. Just 24, McKenzie looks ready to be part of the next great Cleveland teams.
#15 Chicago White Sox
The White Sox had won eight of ten before getting demolished by the Yankees over the weekend. Their offense is only 28th, which shows you how well they’ve been pitching.
#16 Atlanta Braves
Charlie Morton finally looks ready on the mound, with two straight solid starts. At the age of 38, the short spring training might have affected him more than the youngsters. On Saturday, though, he struck out nine while permitting just two hits against San Diego.
#17 Seattle Mariners
The M’s have won each of their last four victories by a single run. Julio Rodriguez has heated up at the plate; on Sunday, he came to the plate five times and got on base each time, slugging his second home run in the process.
#18 Miami Marlins
Joey Wendle has his walk rate up to 8.0%, and his strikeout rate is just over half what it was a year ago.
#19 Arizona Diamondbacks
The pitching staff is contributing, but the bats need to catch up. Ketel Marte has a 20.7% strikeout rate, the worst of his career; between 2019 and 2021, he has a .543 slugging percentage, but that has dropped to .371 so far this year.
#20 Colorado Rockies
Chad Kuhl has a 3-1 record and a 2.88 ERA through six starts, his best numbers since 2017. The key is his slider, which has hitters batting just .075 against it, whiffing at a 46.4% clip.
#21 Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox won two of three at Texas this weekend – ending a streak of seven straight series losses. Trevor Story continues to struggle at the plate, though, hitting just .156 in May (12 games).
#22 Chicago Cubs
Chicago scored 21 runs against the Pirates on April 23 but have averaged only 2.7 runs per game over their last 18 games, managing one run or fewer in seven games in that stretch.
#23 Oakland A’s
The A’s were a walkoff home run on Saturday away from getting swept at home in a four-game set by the Angels. On Sunday, Franke Montas threw a gem, striking out a dozen over six innings, but the Oakland offense could not help him out in a tough-luck loss.
#24 Texas Rangers
Jonah Heim hit a home run in Monday’s win over the Angels, and the switch-hitting catcher is one of the top producers in a lineup that is, slowly, figuring out how to win games.
#25 Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates beat the Reds on Sunday despite not getting a hit, as Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the winning run on a fielder’s choice.
#26 Detroit Tigers
The Tigers swept Baltimore over the weekend, becoming the last team to tally 100 runs in Sunday’s victory. The pitching has been decent, led by Tarik Skubal, who has a 2.50 ERA and fanned 11 men in that win.
#27 Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles got swept by Detroit over the weekend, but that was their first series loss in three weeks. Cedric Mullins has been a bright spot, hitting .339 with three home runs and three steals since April 29 (15 games).
#28 Kansas City Royals
Closer Scott Barlow has been terrific so far, with a 1.15 ERA and an opposing batting average of .185. However, the Royals’ offense (as we mentioned above) needs to wake up.
#29 Washington Nationals
Since starting 6-7, the Nationals have gone 6-17 and have not won two straight all season. Juan Soto has been raking, but he has gotten zero help from most of the rest of the lineup.
#30 Cincinnati Reds
The Reds won five of six last week, but they made the news for losing a game in which a pitcher threw a no-hitter.
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