SPECULATOR: Skills searching for roles, 2019

One year ago today, this was Jesús Aguilar's season-to-date stat line:

AB   AVG  R  RBI  HR  SB
==  ====  =  ===  ==  ==
38  .421  8   7    1   0

Aguilar made the Opening Day roster, but was mostly a platoon bat off the bench at this point. Then Eric Thames tore a ligament in his thumb, and as detailed in an April 26, 2018 PT Today column, Aguilar was given the everyday role. He took the job and ran with a .274-35-108 breakout performance that didn't really get started until May. The skills were there—we tagged Aguilar with an "UP: 30 HR" in the 2018 Baseball Forecaster—he just needed a chance.

Moral of the story? It's still really early. While we're all itching to dissect the April returns—we've been guilty of making snap judgments...

Almost!

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