At the end of April, the Yankees’ Aaron Judge was batting over .425. Max Fried, his teammate, was 5-0, and Elly de la Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds had stolen 13 bases—all MLB leaders. Over in the National League West, three teams had a winning percentage of better than 60%. Oh, and a catcher was the first player to hit for the cycle this season.
Quite a start! Those are impressive stats, and we have more…but how do they compare to other great starts to a season? Here’s a fun look at some impressive stats and facts, past and present, just one month into the season. Or should we say just two months into the season? (Note: Stats in this article are as of May 1, 2025.)
How did the 2024 MVPs perform in April?
Aaron Judge, AL. The Yankees slugger is off to a great start and is fueling the AL East–leading Yankees. He had 10 home runs (tied for the League lead with two others), 32 RBIs (tied again with the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández), and a .427 batting average—the next highest was Paul Goldschmidt at .356. Judge also led the Majors in April in all the significant metrics: His slash line was .427/.521/761. A slash line takes into account batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage (AVG/OBP/SLG). His OPS (which adds OBP and SLG) was a whopping 1.282. As a reference, the average slash line in all of MLB last year was 239/.312/.385. In short, he led the League in all the sabermetrics categories.
Shohei Ohtani, NL. Other than leading MLB in runs (32), Ohtani got off to a moderate start. He ended April batting .287 with 10 RBIs and three triples. The first and only member of the 50-50 club had collected seven home runs and nine stolen bases by May 1st.
Here’s a look at other impressive stats from past opening seasons:
AT THE PLATE
Highest average and a great start:
- Larry Walker, Rockies, 1997. In his MVP season, the eventual Hall of Famer had an April for the ages. After an “0-fer” Opening Day, he got eight hits, including six round-trippers, over the following four games. He batted .456 that April with 11 home runs and four four-hit games.
- Barry Bonds, Giants, 2004. Bonds finished April with a .472 average, 10 home runs and 22 RBI. That contributed to his OPS of 1.828.
- Matt Kemp, Dodgers, 2012. The NL MVP runner-up the year before, Kemp had a strong first month, with a .400 average, 10 home runs and 20 RBI. But injuries slowed him down and limited his games played, and he was never the same player.
Most home runs in April:
- Albert Pujols, Cardinals, 2006. He’d bat .331 with 49 home runs by season end, and it started with a hot opening month. In April, he hit 14 home runs (an MLB record), with 34 ribbies off a .355 average. He finished second in MVP voting behind Ryan Howard of the Phillies.
- Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, 2007. The season’s AL MVP had a sizzling April, with 14 home runs (tying the record), a .355 average, and 34 RBI. He hit 54 homers that year and drove in 156 runners.
- Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners, 1997. Junior launched 13 home runs in April, collected 30 runs batted in and hit .340. That was his MVP, 56 home–run season.
Sometimes the season starts in March: Here’s a look at other impressive starts that include games in March, as well as April:
- Cody Bellinger, Dodgers, 2019. In his MVP season (his third with the Dodgers), with four games and four home runs in March, Cody batted .431, belted 14 home runs and drove in 37 runs through April. His OPS that month was almost 1.4. (He hit 10 homers in April.)
- Christian Yelich, Brewers, 2019. In 2019, for both March and April, the Brewers outfielder hit .353, 14 dingers and 34 RBI, accounting for a 1.264 OPS. He was the runner-up for the NL MVP that year to Bellinger. Like Bellinger, he hit 10 homers in April.
Note: Bellinger and Yelich are tied with several others for the most home runs (4) in March.
More April 2025 leader stats:
Who had the most stolen bases in April?
Elly De La Cruz of the Reds leads MLB with 13 stolen bags. Right behind him on the basepaths with 12 are Pete Crow-Armstong of the Cubs and Oneil Cruz of the Pirates.
- When Ricky Henderson set the MLB record in 1982 with 130 stolen bases, he snagged 22 SBs in just 22 games in April.
ON THE MOUND
What pitchers had the most wins in April 2025? How about K’s and ERA?
Max Fried of the Yankees was 5-0 at the end of April. Brandon Pfaadt of the Diamondbacks and Nick Pavetta of the Padres were 5-1. Fried’s earned run average of 1.19 was just behind the MLB leader, Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers (1.06), and Tyler Mahle of Texas (1.14).
Strikeout leaders.
The strikeout leaders through April were the Nationals’ Mackenzie Gore (59) and Nick Pavetta of the Padres (57).
ACES FROM THE PAST
Past first-month performances and complete games. Here are some super impressive April stats from starting pitchers over a handful of decades, especially when it comes to wins, complete games and ERA.
Note: In April 2025, there were three complete games pitched in all of MLB—that makes what follows even more impressive.
- Randy Johnson, Diamondbacks, 2000. Johnson started his Cy Young Award season like a rocket. In April he went 6-0, with a .91 ERA. He had 64 K’s in 49 innings and threw three complete games in a row.
- Fernando Valenzuela, Dodgers, 1981. His rookie season as a Dodger was historical, and so was his April. In five games that month, he pitched five complete games (45 innings), allowing just one earned run, and was 5-0 with four shutouts. He would go on to take the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards.
- Vida Blue, Oakland A’s, 1971. That April, Blue compiled a 6-1 won-loss record with a 1.20 ERA and, most impressively, recorded six complete games…in one month.
One month down, five more to go!
After just one month, analysts are dissecting every stat and every player, even calculating who’s going to make the playoffs or be in the World Series. As if anyone knows what the rest of the season will bring!
Nonetheless, a great April is usually a sign of even greater things to come. Who knows! Maybe Cubs catcher Carson Kelly will hit for the cycle again before the year is out, like he did in April.
Resources: Baseball.referene.com;yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/april_best_mlb_april_performances; baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/most home runs by month; baseball-almanac.com/players/pitching-logs; cbssports.com/mlb/stats; markkolier.medium.com/the-best-aprils-in-mlb-history; justbaseball.com/mlb/mlbs-surprises-first-month-2025; stathead.com/tiny/RZBNH; espn.com/mlb/story/mlb-2025-season-passan-early-takeaways; mlb.com/news/the-hidden-historic-year-of-aaron-judge; audacy.com/rob-joyce/best-aprils-mlb-history; audacy.com/wtic/sports/new-york-yankees-blast-off
