Welcome back to Week 6 of our Patience or Panic series, where we take a look at three struggling players and provide recommendations on how you should react to their slow starts and subpar performance. Let’s take a look at my Week 4 verdicts and see how they’ve performed:
- Carlos Correa (patience, mostly): 17-64 (.266), 4 XBH, 81 wRC+
- Anthony Santander (panic, mostly): 7-55 (.127), 3 XBH, 38 wRC+
- Tanner Houck (panic — for now): 18.0 IP, 3.50 ERA/3.23 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, .224 BAA, 26.4% K/4.6% BB
Correa’s numbers are watered down after going 0-for-12 against the lowly White Sox. He has looked much better at the dish. Unfortunately, Santander has been quite the opposite. Slow starter or not, he needs to pick up production soon.
As for Houck — if you are interested, here’s my breakdown of Tanner Houck and how he can return to form on twitter. It looks like the Red Sox have taken some notes and made adjustments that I suggested in the thread.
Feel free to let us know in the comments or by tagging us on social media what players you would like to see us focus on in the future! Let’s dive right in.
Tanner Bibee, RHP, Cleveland Guardians
Cleveland’s so-called ace has been off to a brutal start in 2025. His ERA, 4.26, is by far the worst mark of his career, and his FIP is somehow even worse (6.09). He’s striking out far fewer batters due to awful chase and whiff rates, walking a handful more, and constantly getting barraged by barrels. You’d think perhaps being a groundball pitcher, the BABIP is the cause. Wrong. His .240 BABIP seems to have nothing to do with Bibee’s struggles.
This isn’t a case of a slow starter either, as Bibee has posted ERAs of 3.45 and 1.59 in March/April prior to this season. There is not a lot to like here at all. So, what do you do?
Verdict: Patience. Sounds crazy, right? Home runs have been a concern for Bibee. He had allowed 22 HR in 2024 (~8 IP/HR), but has already given up nine bombs in 2025 (4.2 IP/HR). That being said, seven of those homers have come prior to 4/18. Over the past two weeks (3 starts), here are his numbers:
- 18.0 IP
- 2.50 ERA/4.06 FIP
- .227 BAA
- 18.1% K*
- 6.9% BB
*Two games with K% above 20%.
Still, this isn’t the Bibee we know, but it’s certainly an improvement. While the numbers aren’t pretty now, I believe Bibee will find his footing and remain on a positive trajectory moving forward.
Julio Rodriguez, OF, Seattle Mariners
JRod, JRod, JRod… the notorious slow starter. March/April is the only part of the season where Rodriguez has consistently posted below-average numbers throughout his career. Over that span, he’s slashing .229/.300/.354/.654 with a 91 wRC+ through 467 career plate appearances.
Julio Rodríguez OPS/OPS+ by season:
2022: .853/147
2023: .818/130
2024: .734/116
2025: .698/108😳
— nugget chef (@jayhaykid) May 5, 2025
So, what’s the move?
Verdict: Patience. It’s still JRod, and whether he’s started poorly or not, he is showing really encouraging signs of improvement. He’s walking more, striking out less, and his xwOBA and xSLG are actually better than they were last season. His AVG (.206) is due to improve (see: .256 xBA). Not to mention he still boasts a lightning-fast bat speed and is one of the fastest runners in the game. It’s definitely annoying as a fantasy owner to essentially wait for a month-plus for him to get going, but with some of these improvements, hopefully, he can make it worth your while.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Hayes, now 28, came into the league with such promise on both sides of the ball and yet hasn’t quite met those expectations yet. Offensively, he’s been mostly a league-average bat but fantasy managers are willing to take the chance and draft him every year. After all, he’s rostered on more than 50% of fantasy rosters on FanTrax, which utterly surprised me.
As you can see, 2023 appears to be an outlier. He was average, but those numbers look exceptional compared to the ones he produced in the next year (and what he’s on pace for doing in 2025). It’s sad to see, really.
Verdict: Panic. I’m totally out on Hayes. It pains me to say it, but the reality of the situation is that he’s simply been a below-average major league bat. In terms of wRC+, March/April is Hayes’ second-best career month for offensive production. It really falls off a cliff after that. Assuming this data stands correct this season, fantasy managers are in for another rough season of production. I hope for his (and Pirates fans’) sake he can start to get things going.
Photo courtesy of Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X)
