With almost the entire month of April in the books, playing-time totals are getting closer to the point where you can be legitimately excited or disappointed in a player's hot or cold start. Looking at the guys off to bad starts, who should you be genuinely worried about?
Position players
Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays: The biggest April story on a team level has been the collapse of the Blue Jays, a repeat playoff participant. As the guy who's arguably their most visible player, Bautista has to own the team's start and has been a significant contributor to it.
There's good news and bad news here. The spike in his strikeout rate is scary, but he's actually hit his fly balls harder than the MLB average thus far, though admittedly not as hard as we're accustomed to seeing from him. He hasn't pulled the ball as regularly as in the past; on the ground, that's good, as it will help him beat a shift every now and then. But in the air that's a bad thing; selectively pulling for distance is an indispensable part of his arsenal.
