Almost three weeks into the 2010 season, full time hitters have accumulated 60 plus plate appearances and given us a glimpse of what they have in store for the summer ahead. While some of these early season statistics could prove to be a tempting mirage (or a bleak sign of things to come, for that matter), as baseball fans we need to be able to decipher what is real and what will ultimately be fool?s gold. After all, at this point one year ago, the eventual 2009 American League MVP, Joe Mauer, had yet to step foot onto a major league diamond. Mauer wound up posting one of the best offensive seasons from the catcher position that Major League Baseball had seen since the handlebar-mustachioed Mike Piazza was in his heyday. So, in our second installment of Fun With Small Sample Sizes, we will take a look at who is sprinting out of the gates, who has stumbled mightily and where these summertime swingers will likely finish the season. As in the pitching feature, I will focus on the three categories that I believe players fall into: young and improving players approaching their prime, players in their prime and players on the down slope of their careers. And we?re off! Young and Improving Hitters Approaching Their Prime Shin-Soo Choo ? Maybe you haven?t noticed because he has been stashed away in the city whose main attraction is LeBron James and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Shin-Soo Choo has been chugging along as one of the best hitters in the American League over the past two seasons. If this is the case, you aren?t alone. Since being promoted to the big club for good in 2008, Choo has produced a combined OPS of .913, exceeding that of many household names such as Justin Morneau, David Wright and Adam Dunn. Pretty impressive, huh? Choo has not disappointed early on in 2010, either. In 14 games, he has compiled an OPS of 1.075, good for fourth in the AL. While he has had his fair share of strike outs, he makes up for it with his patience at the plate as evidence by his .450 OBP, good for 6th in the AL. To top it off, Shin-Soo Choo is not your everyday lumbering slugger, as he is poised to make a run for the 30/30 club after swiping 21 bags last season. Look for the ?Big League Choo? to continue his assault on AL pitching staffs and likely post a season-long OPS in the low-to-mid .900?s. Hunter Pence ? Up until the start of this season, Hunter Pence has been looked upon as one of the bright, young, two-way stars in the National League. From 2008 to 2009, Pence improved upon virtually every facet of his game, including walking more, striking out less, as well as across the board in BA, OBP and SLG. While 2010 has been a tough pill to swallow for the Houston Astros as a whole, the same can be said for Pence. The right fielder I once read drinks four cups of coffee with his breakfast (and, frankly, he plays like it) has gotten off to a horrendous start. His BA has not once crept above the Mendoza line, currently sitting at .173) and he has shown the patience at the plate reminiscent of an antsy toddler, drawing a grand total of one walk. This poor level of production can?t last forever. The Astros have nothing to lose this season and will continue to run him out to right field day after day, enabling Pence to eventually climb out of his slump and back to his old self. I don?t see any reason why he can?t bounce back to a 20 HR, 80 R, 80 RBI season while posting an OPS in the low .800?s. u>Hitters in Their Prime Chase Utley ? I seriously considered not using Utley in this feature because, really, what can I say about the guy that hasn?t already been? Philadelphia?s mainstay at the keystone has been nothing short of the best offensive and defensive second baseman in baseball for the past half decade. I feel dirty even thinking about using the word ?arguably? in the previous sentence. It hasn?t even been close. Utley has measured out as the top second basemen in all of baseball every season since 2005 in terms of WAR. What has he done this season to defend his crown? How about a NL-leading .755 SLG (3rd in MLB), 1.224 OPS (2nd in the NL and 3rd in MLB) and a paltry .340 BA? For those that thought Utley couldn?t get any better than he has been in years past, in 2010 he has increased his walk rate by nearly 7% and decreased his strikeout rate by more than 6% compared to his 2009 numbers. This is a classic case of the baseball statistics equivalent of the rich getting richer. I won?t even speculate where Utley will finish the year, but I do think this could be the year that he snatches the NL MVP trophy from the tight grasp of Albert Pujols. Mark Teixeira ? Moving on to the other end of the spectrum, we arrive at the man who possesses the richest contract that has ever been awarded to a first baseman. Do you think the Steinbrenner family is regretting committing roughly 3.2 bajillion dollars to Teixiera over the next seven seasons? While that may be a slight exaggeration, when you realize that he is being paid $123,456.79 per game this season, it is safe to assume that Yankees ownership is expecting to get a similar level of production along the lines of a .923 OPS and an average of 35 long balls per season that he has accumulated over the past seven campaigns. Through the first 14 games this season, Teixeira?s 2010 salary to date has paid him $288,065.84 per hit (6) and nearly $1.73 million per home run (1). Aided by a major league low (min. 50 PA) .115 BA, Teixeira has thus far put up an OPS of .493, which is lower than his career average SLG. That is impressive. All kidding aside, Mark Teixeira has been one of the most consistent power hitters in the game over the past seven seasons. While his slump, and what he is getting paid for it, is as exaggerated as any other player going right now, no one in their right mind thinks this will last the balance of the 2010 season. He has dug himself a big hole to get out of, but history tells us that Teixeira will come roaring back at some point this summer to post yet another season in the neighborhood of .300 BA, .400 OBP and .500 SLG. Hitters on the Down Slope of their Careers Ivan Rodriguez - The backstop that goes by the nickname ?Pudge? has not been himself in recent years. Once known as the best all-around catcher in baseball and a perennial all star, Ivan Rodriguez has had a tough go of it since 2007, accumulating an OPS of .698. This is definitely not befitting of a player who, in this writer?s humble opinion, is a surefire Hall of Famer. The 2010 season has been somewhat of a revival for the 1999 AL MVP, silencing the critics who panned the multi-year contract the Nationals awarded him over the offseason. Always opting to swing the stick rather than wait around for a free pass, Rodriguez early on is proving himself to be a capable hitter once again while leading the NL in BA at .444. Sporting an OPS of 1.069 that leads all MLB catchers, he is enjoying what might prove to be his swan song at age 38. Unfortunately, this hot streak is one that probably will not last much longer. I hope Pudge proves me wrong, but I wouldn?t be the least bit shocked to see him conclude the season with an OPS hovering around the .700 range. Carlos Lee ? A slugger with the track record that Carlos Lee possesses is not one you come across every day. From 2003 through 2009, Lee has produced at a clip of .296 BA, .348 OBP and .517 SLG. While he hasn?t been an elite hitter throughout his career, there is definitely value in a guy that continues to produce at a high level year in and year out (even if it appears as if he?s patrolling left field wearing a pair of cement boots, but that?s beside the point). The point here is that the Astros have relied on Lee to be a fixture in the middle of their lineup for the past three years and he hasn?t disappointed. The first three weeks of the 2010 season, on the other hand, is a whole other story. Really, you don?t need to look further than this telling stat: Lee has pounded out one lousy extra base hit. One! His OPS sits at a dismal .339, which happens to be less than a quarter of that of the aforementioned Chase Utley. This is ineptitude at it?s finest, folks. While I want to say that Lee will bounce back to his old slugging ways, a valid question is hanging around these days. Is the 2010 season thus far the beginning of the end for Carlos Lee? While his production can?t get any worse, I don?t see him getting back to an OPS in the high .800 range, as he is used to. Rather, I see this being the onset of a slippery slope for the production of ?El Caballo.? If he winds up posting a 2010 OPS in the .700?s, which I think is in the realm of possibility, the Astros could have a hefty $37 million problem on their hands over the next two seasons.