I’ve argued several times already that this year’s free agent class of shortstops is under incredible pressure and not just because of the money involved although it plays a part in the dynamics.

Other bit players have signed one-year deals hoping to cash in or reinvent themselves, but shortstops are the most important position players outside of catchers.

This year’s class will be forever linked because they all signed big deals and are roughly the same age. They were being compared before their walk years anyway.

While some free agents don’t talk about the pressure they face when coming to a new team, a few guys like Jameson Taillon and Kyle Schwarber have recently admitted to feeling the heat, trying to impress or live up to expectations. I’d argue that the guys who re-up with their previous teams go in the opposite direction more often. They coast and rest on their laurels. Of course, there are exceptions.

Pedro Grifol, the White Sox new manager, repeatedly explained away the Sox early-season, 10-game losing streak as being more pronounced because it happened so early in the season. To a degree he’s right, but when you’ve only played 20+ games, ten losses in a row does matter and stick out.

Editor’s note: all of this year’s stats are as of Sunday, May 21st.

So how important is it that these newcomers get off to good (if not hot) starts? The Cubs Dansby Swanson got off to an incredible start and the fans were wowed. The start was so impressive that nobody has noticed that in his last 30 games, he’s only hitting .226. However, for the season, he’s playing better than his career numbers.

In 45 games (176 at-bats), he’s slashing .267/.374/.409 with 4 homers and 18RBI. He’s a career .255/.324/.416 hitter. He’s also played a gold-glove caliber shortstop. Forget the Cubs overall record, he’s not to blame.

Carlos Correa garnered most of the offseason press because of his relationships with the Giants and Mets. He eventually resigned with the Twins for whom he played last year. However, he’s a part of this class whether he likes it or not and will be compared to the other guys forever.

I’m not sure how either the Giants or Mets feel about the situation, but the early results have been mixed at best, but only because Minnesota is in first place in an awful AL Central. In 43 games, (165 at-bats), he’s slashing .206/.298/389 with 6 homers and 24 RBI. Let that sink in for a minute. He’s performing well below his career numbers of .275/.355/.475, but the Twins “won” the Correa derby.

Because he plays in San Diego now, most of the world has no idea how Xander Bogaerts is doing. He might not have been the player with the highest profile in Boston, but he was playing on ESPN 12 nights a week for the past few years.

In 46 games with the Padres (171 at-bats), he’s slashing .257/.357/.404 with 6 homers and 16 RBI. He’s not that far off his career numbers of .291/.356/.457, but given the overall expectations for San Diego, his early numbers might be disappointing. For the better part of 3 seasons, the Padres were supposed to be the team and only last year did they finally arrive. Ergo, more was expected of this crew given the $$ invested.

Last but certainly not least is the player with the highest expectations, Trea Turner. Of the four players, he was coming off the best offensive season and appeared to have the highest ceiling. Furthermore, the Phillies came closest to winning it all last year. Turner was to be the catalyst Philadelphia needed. Unfortunately, he was expected to carry more of the burden because they lost Rhys Hoskins for the season and Bryce Harper was supposed to be out until June. Throw in the fact that the Phillies fans aren’t especially patient or forgiving.

His splits haven’t been brutal but his overall run production is lacking. In 45 games (191 at-bats), he’s slashing .256/.303/.390. Okay, for the money, that is lousy and he’s only stolen 6 bases. His career slash of .299/.352/.482 would suggest that better days are ahead.

What every fan knows is that you can’t simply multiply the 1/4 of the way stats by 4 and arrive at the year-end totals. Baseball doesn’t work out that way or Tuffy Rhodes would have been the second to eclipse Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record.

It’s definitely too early in the season to close the book on any of the Class of ’23, but it’s not too early to start questioning the long-term investments. At least each of these guys has a WS ring in his back pocket.