Equivalent Fantasy Average: May wrap-up

Seeing as it is now the start of June, now's a heck of a time to wrap up April and May in Equivalent Fantasy Average, yeah?

Equivalent Fantasy Average is the sorting metric I worked up in the offseason to quantify fantasy-only contributions made by hitters. It scales all statistics in terms of a single, batting-average-like number, which should help to separate meaningful data from meaningless.

Whatever, you've read that all before. (Or, if you haven't, here, here, and here) The numbers are the important part, so I'll get to them, along with some thoughts. Players needed at least 100 plate appearances to qualify.

One note: In the May wrap-up, I grabbed players by position based entirely on where they were listed on FanGraphs. It was quick and easy, but I realized not long after that it was incomplete. Joe Mauer hasn't caught any games yet this season, but he did last year, and he's certainly eligible there in fantasy leagues; leaving him out of catchers in EFA didn't really make sense. So for these numbers, players are listed at every position at which they are eligible in Yahoo! leagues. It shouldn't change much, but it should make things more complete.

Catcher

Biggest risers since April: John Jaso, Oakland. Jaso hit .343/.429/.612 in 77 plate appearances in May. He's gone from 29th at the position to ninth.

Biggest fallers since April: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Miami. Salty sat at .299/.409/.571 at the end of April, which made me feel really smart. Then he fell off a cliff in May, putting up a .177/.258/.241 slash line before hitting the concussion DL.

Thoughts: The catcher position really, I don't know, gelled? There was a swing of 138 points of EFA from the top catcher to the bottom in April, a gap that narrows to 65 points after May. Mesoraco maintained his lead at the position, but saw his EFA fall 40 points, having spent a big chunk of May on the DL and putting up only a .240 batting average when he did play. ... Wieters' injury brought his numbers down as well, while Molina and Posey saw their EFAs fall just because of being pedestrian. ... There are some big-name catchers who are really struggling so far, like Perez, Rosario, and Santana.

First Base

Biggest risers since April: There were some crazy-hot first basemen in April. Victor Martinez saw his EFA climb from .263 to .305. Miguel Cabrera went from .247 to .313. Brandon Moss was at .282, now at .306. But the prize-winner here is Edwin Encarnacion, who sat at a pedestrian .258 after April, but is now a world-beating .330.

Biggest fallers since April: Jose Abreu's EFA is .303 two months into the season, which is a perfectly nice number. But it was at .351 after April. He's looked spectacular since coming off the DL, and that DL stint is 99 percent of the reason for his fall, so no worries.

Thoughts: The still-decent EFAs of Abreu and Belt despite their injury absences are testaments to their early-season hotness. ... Guys like Francisco and Reynolds are playing well not long after being unemployed, which just shows that no one knows anything. ... Dude, Hosmer is making me so sad.

Second Base

Biggest risers since April: Kolten Wong got sent down in late April with a slash line of .225/.276/.268. He got called up in the middle of May and has hit .327/.407/.404 since. Small sample sizes FTW.

Biggest fallers since April: Marcus Semien wasn't exactly gangbusters in April, but he had three home runs, 15 RBI, 19 runs. In May, though, those numbers were 0, 3, and 3, he hit only .200/.294/.222, and he got sent down on Sunday.

Thoughts: Gordon's EFA would be .261 in 4x4 leagues without stolen bases, but his stolen-base number is .548. Category-dominators are nice. ... Things really settled down at second base in May, with big names like Altuve, Kinsler, Utley, and Cano getting at least near the highest tier. ... I've said it before and I'll say it again, Aviles is one of the most underrated players in the game.

Third Base

Biggest risers since April: Both Pablo Sandoval and Adrian Beltre struggled mightily in April, but both woke up in May. Sandoval hit .315/.342/.543 with six home runs in the season's second month, while Beltre went .307/.363/.482 with five homers of his own.

Biggest fallers since April: We all love Anthony Rendon, but he really struggled in May, with a .204 batting average that brought his season number to .263, down from .316 at the end of April.

Thoughts: It's awfully nice having Encarnacion and Cabrera qualifying at third base. ... Nope, I don't understand Solarte, and neither do you. ... Bogaerts has been great for real baseball, but his fantasy numbers are pedestrian.

Shortstop

Biggest rises since April: J.J. Hardy is still looking for his first home run of the season, which is really weird. But his batting average on the season rose 64 points in May, raising his EFA 28 points along with it.

Biggest fallers since April: Jed Lowrie is something of the anti-Hardy, as his batting average fell from .286 on April 29 to .245 on June 1. He hit two homers, but only got on base at a .275 clip.

Thoughts: Tulowitzki saw his EFA drop 17 points in April, but when you go at a .349 clip for a month, there's really only one direction to go. ... The only real interlopers in the top 12 at shortstop are Gordon and Escobar, with the others at least moderately expected to be there. ... It's possible the preseason hype about Simmons' bat was a little premature, yeah?

Outfield

Biggest risers since April: This is the easiest question here. George Springer's EFA sat at a woeful .186 at the end of April. He hadn't been up long, and he hadn't done well with what playing time he had. That flipped on its head in May, and Springer now sits at .273, good for 29th at the position. Springer hit .299/.385/.645 in May, with 10 home runs, 23 runs, and 25 RBI. Crazy good month.

Biggest fallers since April: Hey remember, the Chris Colabello stories from April? He was a big producer for Minnesota early on, and still leads the Twins in RBI. But his May line sat at .125/.169/.196 through most of the month, and he's now in AAA.

Thoughts: The injury to Pollock is a big bummer, as he was doing really well. ... The Marlins have three outfielders (Stanton, Yelich, and Ozuna) among the top 28 at the position. ... Yeah, Eric Young is at .261 and Lagares is at .245, but these are fantasy numbers, and the Mets really need to use Lagares over Young. ... The Bradley/Sizemore combo in Boston is pretty danged underwhelming.

Overall

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