Aaron Judge, Michael Conforto among best of 2017 MLB season so far

For a team buried by injuries and underperformance, Michael Conforto has a been a bright spot for the Mets.

We're at the quarter-pole already? Seems like just yesterday the Mets had the best starting rotation in baseball and the Yankees were planning for 2018 and beyond.
Long way to go still, but here's my best and worst of the season so far, in some cases as it applies to more than just the standings.

The Best

1. Aaron Judge/Michael Conforto:
One has brought the buzz back to the Bronx, while the other has offered hope at Citi Field amid the wreckage of injuries and underperformance.
Judge is a phenomenon, in part because of his size and strength and athletic ability, wowing people as much with that diving catch against the Rays the other day as with his mammoth home runs.

Aaron Judge's prodigious power has quickly won the hearts of Yankees fans.

Conforto is poetry in motion at the plate, with the gorgeous swing that never fails to melt Keith Hernandez's heart, but he too is proving to be more of an all-around player than expected, quick to the ball in the outfield, making some eye-popping throws to the plate.
And the best part is they both do their thing without a hint of wanting to draw attention to themselves. In fact, both Judge and Conforto do and say all the right things to keep success in perspective, and you can tell it's genuine by the way their teammates talk about them.
The point is that after all of the debate the last couple of years about the need to engage the audience with more emotion and celebration, Judge and Conforto are proof that great performance alone will generate plenty of interest and enthusiasm among the fans, young and old alike.
An occasional bat flip is fine in a huge spot if it's done out of genuine emotion, but showboating will always be showboating, and there will always be a line that players shouldn't cross in showing up an opponent.

He may already have two MVP awards, but Mike Trout may just finally be getting the recognition he deserves.

Judge, 25, and Conforto, 24, are old-school in that regard. They're going to be big stars for years to come, and, who knows, maybe they'll also be embraced as role models by the young audience MLB desperately wants to attract.
Or as Conforto told me last year, "I think there's something to being a good sport, as we've all been taught growing up. To me, sportsmanship is important."
2. Mike Trout
Along the same lines, appreciation for Mike Trout's substance-over-style game suddenly seems to be growing. Maybe it's because he was just here in New York to play the Mets, but Trout got huge play in the media, and it's not because he's a good quote.

Greg Holland's comeback from Tommy John surgery is a huge reason why the Rockies are in first place.

(Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

As Alex Rodriguez, at Citi Field for FOX, said, "I think people are starting to appreciate just how all-time great he is."
3. Greg Holland
Holland is proof of what a lockdown closer can do for a ballclub, perhaps as much psychologically as anything. He's also a great story, coming back from Tommy John surgery to be perfect so far as the Rockies' closer, going 19-for-19 in save opportunities, with a 0.96 ERA.
At least partly as a result, the Rockies are perhaps the biggest surprise in baseball, leading the NL West. Last season they blew 56.9 percent of save opportunities, second-worst in the league; this year they're 23-0 when leading after six innings.

Intentional walks may be a thing of the past, but poor pace of play still hasn't been fixed.

Holland, who auditioned for teams in the winter, is earning $6 million this season, and $15 million next as long as he finishes 30 games. Obviously the Mets could have used him but showed no interest. The Nationals showed serious interest but weren't willing to match the Rockies' bid, and now their bullpen is a disaster.

The Worst

1. (Dreaded) Pace of Play
Surely you've noticed that MLB's attempts to improve the pace aren't exactly succeeding. Not that anybody thought eliminating the intentional walk made sense in that regard, and that rule still doesn't feel right.
In any case, it's not just that games are again averaging over three hours so far this season, but the way they drag, as managers continue to go to their bullpens earlier than ever, as data dictates, and pitchers from start to finish seem to try to avoid contact as much as possible.

Chase Utley breaking Ruben Tejada's leg prompted a much needed rule change, but it isn't working the way it was intended.

"I swear I've never seen so many 3-2 counts,'' one major-league executive said on Tuesday. "I hate to say it, but some games are unwatchable because of it.
"You have more hitters taking all-or-nothing approaches at the plate, which means more swings and misses than ever. You have more pitchers with overpowering stuff than ever, but a lot of them still nibble, nibble nibble, especially when they get ahead in the count, trying to make the perfect pitch rather than attacking to finish a guy off.
"I'm not sure what the answer is, but it's terrible for our product. There's not enough action."
That has been Commissioner Rob Manfred's contention: he wants more action, not necessarily shorter games, and if he can't legislate a way to have more balls put into play, he's determined to eliminate the dead time, whether it's with a pitch clock, a restriction of mound visits, and even a restriction of the use of relievers as well.

Dustin Pedroia was a source of controversy after publicly absolving himself of guilt after his teammate threw at Manny Machado's head.

2. The Slide Rule
I hate to agree with Joe Maddon, but he was right last week in screaming for change after the umpires ruled a double play simply because rookie Ian Happ slid past second base.
The rule is laughable, especially in a case where the runner didn't even make contact with the infielder at the bag.
The intent to protect middle infielders is fine. But the only change needed was to make sure the runner starts his slide before he reaches second base; if Chase Utley had done that, he wouldn't have broken Ruben Tejada's leg.
MLB was right to stop the body blocks, but it has also essentially eliminated the practice of breaking up a double play. Modify the rule, already.
3. Dustin Pedroia
Maybe it wasn't his intent, but, sorry, I didn't see anything worse so far than Pedroia sitting alongside the dugout, selling out his teammates and manager in the beanball incident with the Orioles by mouthing his innocence to Manny Machado for the whole world to see.
If he wanted to let Machado know it wasn't his idea, fine, do it after the game where nobody else could see it. Better yet, if he felt that strongly about it, he should have spoken up in his own clubhouse before the game to make sure no one threw at Machado.