Despite offense being down across Major League Baseball, a number of hitters have started off the year sending balls into the outfield seats. While some of the top homerun hitters making the list (with seven or more this season) include Albert Pujols and Mark Teixeira, others like Jeff Francoeur are complete surprises.

Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano is the current MLB leader in bombs with 11. Since signing with the Cubs, Soriano has been rapidly declining and has one of the worst contracts in Major League Baseball. His overall season numbers aren’t great outside of the power (.275 OBP) but he is currently on pace to hit 61 homeruns this year, a stat that would make Cubs fans happy.

Another surprise among the NL homerun leaders is Lance Berkman. After a horrendous season that marked him as a dwindling star, Berkman has been off to a torrid start for his new team the St. Louis Cardinals. His nine homeruns put him on pace for almost 50 on the season and he currently has the highest OPS in the National League.

Not everyone on the NL leader-board is a surprise. Ryan Braun (10) and Albert Pujols (7 despite his slow start) are well known power hitters who haven’t slipped this year. Braun is on pace to break his career high of 37 and Pujols could improve his totals since bouncing back from a slow start.

Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitski has slowed down after a hot start and remains on pace to hit more than 40 out of the park this season. With Hanley Ramirez struggling, Tulo may stake claim as the best shortstop in the majors if he can stay healthy for a full season.

The other two NL players with seven homeruns are Chris Young and Jason Heyward. Young hit 27 last year and is on pace to break his career high of 32 this season. Heyward may have been the best rookie in the NL last year and is on pace to improve on his strong 18 homerun campaign from 2010. Heyward opened his inaugural season with a homer his first career MLB at bat and copied that feat when he opened this season with another dinger in this season’s first at bat.

The American League has also seen its share of surprises so far this year. Newcomer to the league Jeff Francoeur and Ben Zobrist have hit seven each after long struggles at the plate. Both players are on pace for 40 homeruns which would easily set new career highs.

Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays, who led MLB with 54 long balls last year, is out to prove that season was no fluke. Currently, he is leading the AL with nine homers and is on pace for another 50 homerun campaign.

Some usual suspects among the AL leaders include Paul Konerko (who hit 39 last year) and Miguel Cabrera, who has hit more than 30 in six of the last seven years. Both players are on pace for career highs despite being well known as power hitters.

A pair of Texas Rangers have seven each; Nelson Cruz is looking to stay healthy for a full season and prove he belongs among the game’s best homerun hitters while Adrian Beltre is proving that he can play after signing a big contract. Beltre hit a career high 48 back in 2004.

Finally, the Yankees have a trio of sluggers with eight homers. Mark Teixeira is off to one of the best starts in his career which could spell doom for the AL if he heats up as the summer moves on.

Robinson Cano, who hit a career high 29 last year is on pace to beat that by 20 homeruns this year as he continues to prove he may be the best second baseman in the AL.

Finally, Curtis Granderson, who struggled in his first year with the Yankees, is slugging .620 and is on pace to hit 49 homeruns this year. The former Detroit Tiger had eight at the time of this article.

As the season goes on, some of the early homerun leaders will undoubtedly fall off the pace like Jeff Francoeur but it’s important to remember that the current AL homerun leader came out of nowhere last year and shocked all of baseball.

So who will be sitting at the top of the list at season’s end?

It’s hard to call which makes MLB’s HR race one of the fans favorite to watch in all of sports.

More MLB: MLB first no-h

Used with permission of the author.

Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

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