After 10 days of the 2019 Eastern League season, there are four players that are hitting over .400.
One of them is Trenton's Ben Ruta.
The West Windsor native has 16 hits from his first 36 at-bats, good for a .444 average. The crazy thing is, he is 40 points behind Tres Berrera of the white hot Harrisburg Senators (10-2). Harrisburg (Washington Nationals) has two of the four players over .400, with Rhett Wiseman at .421.
Wiseman has to be the leader right now for E.L. Player of the Month. He has eight home runs and 15 RBIs to go along with his 16 hits.
Trenton (7-3) will not see the Senators until May 13-15. Harrisburg leads the Western Division by 2.5 games over the Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants).
The Thunder hold a one game lead over Reading (Philadelphia Phillies).
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After 10 games, Ruta is the lone Thunder player hitting over .300. Rashad Crawford is second on the team at .290, while Chris Gittens is right behind him at .286.
Ruta is tied for second in the league with his 16 hits, third in the league with five doubles and his .444 average, and fourth in OPS at 1.163.
Thunder manager Patrick Osborn has been effusive in his praise for Ruta in the early going. After Monday'ssecond straight three-hit game, Ruta's fourth multi-hit game in five and already his sixth in the first 10 games, Osborn spoke about why he is able to get on base so often.
"He doesn't strike out a lot, and he runs well," Osborn said. "That combination will typically keep guys out of long slumps. He fits into that category.
"I think he has good barrel to ball skills. He can manipulate the bat in different zones of the strike zone, whether it is up, down, in, or out. That is kind of a lost art in this game right now, the ability to kind of shoot the ball around the field.
"We are in the launch angle era, where everyone is trying to hit the ball high and as far as they can. Then a guy like Benny comes around and you have to play him line to line, because he has the ability to hit the ball down the left field line, or pull the ball down the right field line."
In the 10 games so far, Ruta has gone hitless just twice.
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Gittens had five RBIs Monday night in the 8-6 series opener victory over Akron, which was Trenton's fourth straight win, and sixth in seven games. He was 4-for-4 in the contest, with a home run off the video board in right-center field.
Gittens leads the team with nine RBIs.
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Second baseman Wendell Rijo leads the Thunder with three home runs, with two solo shots against Erie back in game two of the season in a 16-5 loss, and a two-run blast in a 7-2 win over Akron last week.
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Thunder reliever Daniel Alvarez is 2-0 in the early going, one of six pitchers in the league with two wins. He also has a save.
Brody Koerner has pitched eight innings without allowing a run, while Acevedo has done the same in six innings of work.
Portland's Kyle Hart, who lost to the Thunder this weekend, leads the league with 20 strikeouts (in 12 innings), but is 0-2.
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After Wednesday's 10:30 a.m.contest, Trenton will be on the road for a week in Portland (Boston Red Sox) and New Hampshire (Toronto Blue Jays) for three games with each team.
The Thunder's next home game will be Friday, April 26 against Erie (Detroit Tigers)
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Trenton has made one move since April 10, with 24-year-old right-handed pitcher Adonis Rosa moving from Triple A Scranton Wilkes-Barre to the Thunder on April 14.
Rosa pitched 5.2 innings for the Rail Riders, allowing five hits, four runs, while striking out four. He has yet to make an appearance for Trenton prior to Tuesday night.