Here’s a not-fun little exercise. Name these two players through the first 50 games.
Player A: .190/.274/.277, .250 wOBA, 50 wRC+
Player B: .199/.299/.301, .269 wOBA, 61 wRC+
Not much separation there. Not much value, either. Player A is Jason Kipnis in 2018 and player B is José Ramírez this year. I think most everyone knows the story about Kipnis and how he salvaged some value from his season by slashing .254/.339/.454 with a .342 wOBA and 112 wRC+ in the 97 games that followed his first 50.
However, even with his turnaround, Kipnis was not that valuable overall; he finished the season with 2.