Through May 15, Cameron Maybin was one of the worst hitters in the league, batting .180 with a .549 OPS. But due to Yunel Escobar’s inury and Kole Calhoun’s poor start to the season, Maybin was shifted to the leadoff spot the following day, and his fortunes suddenly changed; he went 5-for-6 that day and hasn’t looked back.
In an admittedly tiny sample size of seven games and 36 plate appearances since he began hitting leadoff every day, Maybin is hitting .483/.583/.828. It’s only a week, but it brought his season line from an abysmal .180/.305/.243 (62 wRC+, where 100 is league average) to a respectable .