It’s easy to go into a season with heroes. When you look at an Opening Day roster and see familiar faces, you can say to yourself, “There’s Kevin Kiermaier, there’s Chris Archer, I know what jersey I’m getting this year.”
The funny thing about baseball is that no matter how certain you are going into a season of who your most beloved player is going to be, there will always end up being someone to surprise you.
I’d be hard pressed to say I was surprised by either Jake Bauers or Willy Adames, both of whom were well hyped before their arrival, and have met and exceeded my expectations. For me (and maybe I am unapologetically alone in this) my biggest, most delightful surprise has come in the form of one Ji-Man Choi.
I would like to go back to March and ask myself who I would imagine being my favorite player of the season (Kiermaier), and then tell that version of me that no, it would be a South Korean DH acquired from the Brewers in a trade for Brad Miller. Past me would not have believed it. But here we are.
Perhaps it’s the dancing. Perhaps the sheer joy of watching him play. I don’t know, but for me the biggest surprise of the season has been Choi.
And our question for you this week is just that: which player has surprised you the most this season? Maybe it IS Bauers or Adames for you, or maybe it’s Snell’s unbelievable climb towards Cy Young glory. Whatever the answer, we want to know who, and we want to know why.
Head over to the FanPost section and select “New FanPost” on the left, then tell us who has stunned you this season.