27 Outs: Stanton, Harper bring literal meaning to star power

27 Outs is a weekly look around the league at some of the interesting statistics, storylines and anecdotes that caught our eye.

1. Giancarlo Stanton is really strong. This past week, he was about 1,827 feet worth of strong. But not even Stanton's herculean strength could save the axe from falling on Mike Redmond, who became the second manager fired this season after overseeing a 16-22 start that included 10 losses in 16 games this month.

2. Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said the move was made to motivate a spark in the players, but it's hard to fault Redmond for inconsistent hitting from half the lineup, an underwhelming rotation and a horribly frustrating bullpen.

3. Owner Jeffrey Loria has a history of operating with a quick trigger finger, so perhaps it should come as no surprise Redmond was made the scapegoat after the team entered the season with such high expectations. After all, the last time Loria fired a manager with a 16-22 record, the Marlins went on to win the World Series. Redmond, by the way, was a member of that 2003 championship-winning team.

4. What could be better than watching Stanton operate under the spotlight of the Fall Classic? The NL MVP has four homers in his last six games, and three of them have been among the five furthest-hit this season. Only Stanton could hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium and it be his second-biggest homer of the week.

5. And only Bryce Harper could top that. The Nationals phenom hogged these pages last week, but when you smack nine homers and drive in 22 runs in 11 games, the headlines rightfully belong to you.

6. Harper's NL-leading 14 homers in 39 games is already more than his 13 in 100 games last season, and he's amazingly made just four more outs than extra-base hits (13) this month.

7. Trivia time: Who's the only player in baseball in the top 10 in hits and also the bottom 10 in hardest batted balls? (Answer is 13 Outs away.)

8. For those who love star power, it's hard to ask for a better start to the season. The home run leaderboard reads like a collection of All-Stars from the past, present and future, with Harper, Stanton, Nelson Cruz, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Justin Upton, Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt among the household names with at least 10 homers this season.

9. Anyone waiting for Rodriguez's production to drop off better pull up a chair. So far, A-Rod's slugging in May is 120 points higher than April, while his .955 OPS is also superior to the .876 mark he posted last month.

10. Speaking of redemption, there's clearly nothing wrong with Corey Kluber. Last year's AL Cy Young winner - who entered his most recent start winless in his first seven outings - became just the second pitcher (Randy Johnson, 1992) in MLB history to strike out 18 batters in eight innings or fewer.

11. That wasn't even the most impressive stat to come out of Kluber's 1-hit, 18-strikeout, no-walk masterpiece on Wednesday. His Game Score of 98 is believed to be the highest for an eight-inning start in baseball history.

12. Kluber did, however, miss out on his second career "Maddux" after falling an inning short and exceeding the criteria by 14 pitches. Shelby Miller, meanwhile, collected his second Maddux of the season in his near no-hitter Sunday against the Marlins. Miller, who needed just 94 pitches to secure the complete-game shutout, is the only pitcher with a Maddux in 2015.

13. In case you're wondering, there are just four pitchers in baseball with more than one Maddux since the beginning of 2013:

14. One player lacking in star power right now is Jason Heyward, who was the main piece in the trade that sent Miller from the Cardinals to the Braves. While Miller has yet to allow more than two earned runs in any of his eight starts - including just one run in his last 25 innings - Heyward continues to struggle in his search for power. Heyward's isolated power is marginally better than his career-low mark of .113 last season, and his .126 ISO ranks 45th out of 65 qualified outfielders.

15. Things can change in a hurry, though, as evidenced by recent turnarounds from the Nationals, Giants and, to a lesser extent, Mariners. The trio was a combined 12 games under .500 through the first three weeks of the season and are 16 games over since.

16. Most of that cumulative success is attributed to the Nationals' surge, which has included wins in 15 of 19 games. That Washington is receiving strong contributions from Harper and Max Scherzer, who's been worth more wins than any pitcher in baseball, comes as no surprise. The play of Wilson Ramos (18-game hitting streak) and Yunel Escobar (batting .415 over his last 13 games), however, has certainly been a difference maker.

17. The Blue Jays are one team quickly heading in the opposite direction, having lost 15 of 23 games. Blue Jays starters sit last in the AL and second-last in the majors in quality starts with 12 in 39 tries.

18. They sure could use Noah Syndergaard right about now. The prized Mets prospect (and onetime Blue Jays prospect) has 11 strikeouts in his first 11 1/3 major-league innings. He'll rack up plenty more with curveballs like this:

19. One hitter Syndergaard couldn't solve in his MLB debut was fellow super rookie Kris Bryant, who walked, tripled and singled against the hard-throwing right-hander. Bryant would later add a homer (he now has four in his last nine games after hitting none through his first 20), and is one of five players this season who's reached base safely four times or more in at least five games.

20. Answer to Out No. 13: Dee Gordon leads the majors with 63 hits but ranks ninth in the league among fewest hard-hit balls (19.1 percent of his batted balls). Gordon's been a catalyst at the top of the Marlins lineup with a MLB-leading 14 infield hits, though it's his defense that's been really turning heads of late:

21. Who's hitting the ball the hardest this season? Stanton, obviously. Half of his batted balls have been of the strong variety, with A-Rod's 46.9 percent clip the next best mark in the league.

22. There was nothing hard about the routine fly ball Gregory Polanco misplayed Friday, a walk-off blooper that cost him his pride and the Pirates a victory.

23. Polanco was hardly the only goat in the Cubs-Pirates series opener after both bullpens surrendered a combined 11 runs in 14 innings. That's as good a place as any to begin this week's edition of The Good, Bad, and Ugly.

The Yankees bullpen continues to be good, the best, greatest, or whichever other descriptor you prefer. Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller are 1-2 among relievers in strikeouts, respectively, with 61 in just 39 2/3 innings, and have yet to allow an earned run this season.

24. Texas relievers, meanwhile, have been pretty bad, prompting manager Jeff Banister to remove all defined roles in his bullpen indefinitely. Fourteen home runs allowed and a 5.96 ERA in May will do that.

25. It's been just as ugly in Miami, where Steve Cishek lost his closer's job after blowing his fourth save of the season last week. Marlins relievers are actually sporting a FIP more than a full run less than its collective ERA in May, which suggests their struggles are about to turnaround. Perhaps new skipper Dan Jennings can help the bullpen by honing his managerial experience from high school more than 30 years ago.

26. Did you happen to see Mike Trout make not one but two game-saving defensive plays in the 10th and 11th inning of Wednesday's game? That's why he's the best.

27. One of Trout's victims was All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who's days in Denver appear to be numbered. As it were, there's a pair of teams in New York that could use an upgrade at shortstop. How's that for star power?

- Videos courtesy: MLB.com
- Stats courtesy: Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs, Brooks Baseball