These players are probably glad it's May

The calendar flipped to May on Saturday, and the first month of the season is history. For some, April was a bountiful time. Others likely will be glad to leave it behind.

In 2021, thankfully, there is once again plenty of time to do just that. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the opening month was roughly half of the 60-game schedule. The return of the 162-game slate offers opportunity to make an early slump a mere footnote as the weather warms.

So let’s take a look at 13 notable candidates for such a turnaround. This is less about the players who spent much of the first month injured and more about those who got significant playing time but produced at a level far below expectations. Each of these guys has tasted success before. May could be the month when they do so again.

Francisco Lindor, SS, Mets
April stats: .189/.299/.243 (57 OPS+)
The Mets, who dealt with a choppy April schedule, have not gotten much offensively from the likes of Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith or Michael Conforto, either. But Lindor is the superstar, and the spotlight shines brightest on him. The good news is that he is hitting the ball hard as often as before, while walking more and striking out less (and playing a stellar shortstop). His expected stats show some bad luck. Still, Lindor needs to start driving the ball in the air again to put the Flushing fans at ease.

Marcell Ozuna, LF, Braves
April stats: .202/.295/.313 (63 OPS+)
Ozuna hit safely in five straight games to end the month, including two doubles and two homers (one a 479-foot blast). That’s a welcome sign for Atlanta, which finished April at 12-14. Ozuna isn’t the lone culprit, but last year he led the NL in home runs, RBIs and total bases. This year, he had two extra-base hits and was slugging .233 through his first 23 games, while not hitting the ball with his usual authority. But that power is clearly still there, and it might be re-emerging.

Eugenio Suárez, SS, Reds
April stats: .130/.229/.304 (40 OPS+)
When Cincinnati decided to move Suárez from third base to shortstop this year, the hope was that he could hold his own at the position while overcoming any issues with his slugging. Instead, Suárez struggled on both sides of the ball in April, with an MLB-low -7 Outs Above Average and an MLB-high 40 strikeouts. Suárez did manage to snap an 0-for-26 skid with a homer Friday, so perhaps that will prove to be the catalyst he needed.

Kenta Maeda, SP, Twins
April stats: 1-2, 6.56 ERA (59 ERA+)
In 2020, including the postseason, Maeda made 12 starts and allowed 20 runs. In 2021, he’s made five starts and allowed 19 runs -- including 12 over his past two outings. Last season’s AL Cy Young Award runner-up has seen his strikeout rate cut almost in half and his hard-hit rate allowed nearly double. The Twins, expected to compete for a third straight division title, instead finished April with the third-worst record in MLB, in part because they went 1-4 in Maeda’s outings. They need more from their Opening Day starter.

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Cardinals
April stats: .214/.257/.340 (69 OPS+)
After a 4-for-5 Opening Day, Goldschmidt hit .184 with a .527 OPS for the rest of April. Oddly, Goldschmidt is making solid contact as often as ever (80th-percentile hard-hit rate), but he’s hitting too many balls outside of the productive launch-angle range -- either on the ground or too high in the air. He also has by the far the lowest walk rate of his career. In 2020, St. Louis got the version of Goldschmidt it envisioned (145 OPS+). The club needs that guy back as it tries to keep up with Milwaukee.

Kyle Hendricks, SP, Cubs
April stats: 1-3, 7.54 ERA (51 ERA+)
From 2014-20, Hendricks started 174 games and gave up seven earned runs twice. This April, he started five games and gave up seven earned runs twice. The righty actually had a couple of strong outings against the division rival Brewers (12 innings, two runs), but the Braves beat him up for 14 runs, 18 hits and seven homers over a pair of matchups. Perhaps it’s just that Atlanta has his number; Chicago will hope that's it.

Ian Happ, CF, Cubs
April stats: .133/.293/.173 (37 OPS+)
The entire Cubs team hit .166 for the first half of April, so there were a lot of cold bats. But as the Chicago lineup got it going, Happ continued to scuffle, drawing walks but finishing the month with one extra-base hit and no multi-hit games. The switch-hitter is still making hard contact, but combining lots of strikeouts with lots of ground balls is no way to live. Happ was above average at the plate in each of his first four MLB seasons, so there’s plenty of reason to think the hits will come. The last-place Cubs need it to happen soon.

Patrick Corbin, SP, Nationals
April stats: 0-3, 10.47 ERA (38 ERA+)
You want an example of “new month, new results”? Corbin obliged Saturday, holding the Marlins to two runs over seven innings to drop his ERA to 8.10 (albeit while notching just seven swinging strikes). Corbin was a big part of the Nationals’ 2019 championship team, but he allowed the most hits in the Majors in 2020, then began this season by allowing a 1.070 OPS in his first four outings. Even Corbin’s trademark slider hasn’t been quite as devastating as usual. But with Stephen Strasburg out, the Nats desperately need Corbin to build on Saturday’s success.

Tommy Pham, LF, Padres
April stats: .179/.309/.194 (49 OPS+)
It’s been a tough year for Pham, who battled injuries during the shortened 2020 campaign, survived a serious stabbing last October and now is dealing with a calf ailment that kept him out of the Padres’ starting lineup for their final few games of April. On top of that, Pham’s slow opening month gave him a .578 OPS in 55 games as a Padre. Yet Pham still rarely chases out of the zone, doesn’t strike out a ton and hits the ball hard. No hitter in April (minimum 75 plate appearances) suffered from a bigger gap between expected and actual production. If Pham is healthy (and that’s a notable “if”), the results are likely to follow.

Elvis Andrus, SS, A’s
April stats: .151/.202/.186 (16 OPS+)
Andrus had been with the Rangers organization since July 2007 before an offseason trade put him in a new uniform. It’s been a rough transition for the 32-year-old, to say the least, with 14 hitless starts and just one multi-hit effort in April. Andrus hasn’t topped a 78 OPS+ since 2017, so expecting big offensive numbers wasn’t realistic. Still, it’s worth wondering how much longer Oakland will be patient with Andrus -- who has started 27 of its 28 games -- if the bat doesn’t pick up soon.

José Quintana, SP, Angels
April stats: 0-2, 10.13 ERA (43 ERA+)
Here we go again. Mike Trout is raking like never before, but the Angels finished April last in MLB in rotation ERA (5.97), contributing to a .500 record. The Halos simply need more from their starters, and Quintana has struggled the most. Signed to a one-year, $8 million deal to try to stabilize that rotation, he hasn’t made it out of the fourth inning in three of his four outings, walking 13 in 13 1/3 innings overall. The good news: April has historically been Quintana’s worst month by ERA (4.51), so this wouldn’t be the first time he’s rebounded from a slow start.

Alec Bohm, 3B, Phillies
April stats: .207/.245/.304 (53 OPS+)
One of several scuffling Phillies hitters, Bohm is coming off a .338/.400/.481 line as a rookie that included a ridiculous .452 average with runners in scoring position. He was never going to repeat that, but the good news is that Bohm’s quality of contact in April was right in line with his 2020 numbers. With one of MLB’s biggest gaps between expected and actual production, there’s reason to think May will be brighter for Bohm.

Aaron Hicks, CF, Yankees
April stats: .155/.242/.321 (64 OPS+)
The Yankees finished April at 12-14, thanks in part to a disappointing showing from their vaunted offense. Hicks was by no means the only slumping bat in the lineup but was perhaps the most glaring example, including a 4-for-44 stretch from April 14-29. Yet the switch-hitter has remained disciplined at the plate and showed he can drive the ball when he connects (67th-percentile barrel rate). A 2-for-5 effort with a home run to close the month was a positive sign that Hicks will find a way to return to his typical production (120 OPS+ from 2017-20).