Cold starts at the dish in April are nothing new to baseball. They are as old as the game itself.
Opening a season poorly is difficult for a player to hide. Bury a two-week slump in the middle of July, and nobody will bat an eyelash.
Begin a new year with a couple of rough series, and those numbers out on the video board start looking awfully funny.
Nonetheless, when a perennial hitter kicks off a new season with an ugly slump, it’s hard not to get carried away and wonder if something fundamental has changed about their approach that spells offensive doom: i.e. Carlos Pena’s hideous .196 average last season.
By and large, however, the Carlos Penas are the exception to the rule. Good hitters typically shake off their April blues and will start cooking by May, if not sooner.
Here are 10 MLB stars whose slow starts are nothing to worry about: