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With about a month left before pitchers and catchers start reporting for spring training, let’s see which teams are predicted to have the best group of players at each position. With all due respect, we can do just that.
Here’s a breakdown of the teams with the strongest predicted performance in each spot of the diamond in 2023, according to FanGraphs Depth Chart WAR:
Catcher: Blue Jays (5.9 WAR)
Key Players: Alejandro Kirk, Danny Jansen
This is clearly a strong position for Toronto, and it’s likely that it will be Gabriel Moreno, the Jays’ No. 1 prospect in the MLB pipeline, and Rudess at catcher-outfielder Dalton Bacho’s D-back. That’s why we gave away Gurriel Jr. But even without Moreno, Kirk and Jansen should make him a formidable tandem behind the plate in 2023.
Kirk had a breakout campaign at bat last season, posting .786 OPS with 14 homers and 3.8 WARs. Jansen, on the other hand, hit his 15th home run with a . 855 OPS. His WAR was 2.6. If they produce anything close to that in his 23rd year, watch out for the Jays, given the Toronto lineup has firepower up and down.
Nearest Challengers: Orioles (5.5), Dodgers (5.1), Braves (4.9), Phillies (4.6), Yankees (4.6)
First Base: Dodgers and Blue Jays (4.8 WAR)
Key Player — LAD: Freddie Freeman
Key Players — TOR: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Brandon Belt
Freeman’s first season with the Dodgers started slowly, but once he started, he took off and never looked back, posting . Finished. He also led the National League in runs scored (117) and on-base percentage (. 407). His FanGraphs WAR was a career high of his 7.1.
Guerrero, on the other hand, did not replicate his outstanding 2021 campaign. Although he finished second to Shohei Ohtani in the American League MVP award, he had an OPS. 818, with 32 home runs. You may not have seen Guerrero’s best work yet.
Belt performance is hard to predict. He just had surgery to address a chronic knee problem that derailed his 2022 campaign. He has 38 homers in 148 OPS games.
Nearest Challengers: Cardinals (4.4), Mets (4.4), Braves (3.6), Rangers (3.1), Rays (3.0)
Second Base: Astros (4.5WAR)
Key player: Jose Altuve
219/.286/.344 in 48 games in a pandemic-shortened season, Altuve’s 2020 season was a below-average season. But he bounced back in 2021 and enjoyed his best performance since winning the AL MVP award five years earlier in ’22, hitting his 28 homers with his OPS of . led the Astros to the World Series his championship. Conservative FanGraphs forecasts him to have his WAR of 4.2 this year, following a 6.6 last season.
Nearest Challengers: Guardians (4.2), Rays (4.1), Yankees (4.0), Rangers (3.9), Padres (3.8)
Shortstop: Raise (5.6 WAR)
Key player: Wonder Franco
Franco has only played 153 games since making his MLB debut in 2021. His injuries (his right quadriceps injury and right wrist fracture) saw him miss about half of the 22-year campaign. The sky is the limit for Franco, who is not yet 22 years old. And why? Despite his injuries, in about one season’s worth of experience in his league in the majors, he posted .282/.337/.439 and produced a 4.7 WAR.
Nearest Challengers: Twins (5.3), Padres (5.0), Rangers (5.0), Mets (4.7), Phillies (4.7)
Third base: Cardinals (5.5WAR)
Key player: Nolan Arenado
Unsurprisingly, the Card tops the list of hot corners thanks to Arenado, a finalist for the 2022 NL MVP Awards behind teammate Paul Goldschmidt and fellow third baseman Manny Machado. 891 OPS with 30 home runs, Arenado is, of course, a very offensive player as evidenced by his 22 impressive years at bat. But much of the value of his FanGraphs project for ’23 (5.3 WAR) comes from his incredible defense, which earned him 10 consecutive Gold Gloves last year.
Nearest Challengers: Guardians (5.3), Astros (5.2), Padres (5.0), Rays (4.8), Red Sox (4.6)
Left Field: Astros (4.7 WAR)
Key player: Jordan Alvarez
Alvarez is off to a great season finishing third in AL MVP award voting thanks to a .306/.406/.613 slashline that hit 37 home runs. Third place is certainly an honorable finish against a man who hit 62 home runs and a two-way superstar achieving an all-time feat.The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Alvarez gets better year after year. and he is 25 years old.
Nearest Challengers: Red Sox (4.0), Padres (3.7), Guardians (3.4), Cardinals (3.3), Brewers (3.1)
Center Field: Mariners (5.8 WAR)
Key player: Julio Rodriguez
Rodriguez had almost as good a year as a rookie in the major leagues. He became the fastest player in AL/NL history to record his 25 home runs and his 25 stolen bases, and a home run at Dodger Stadium made a show in his Derby, earning his club his first postseason win in 21 years. and took home AL Rookie of the Year honors.
853 OPS with 28 home runs and 25 stolen bases, finished seventh in AL MVP award voting, and generated 5.3 WAR. His FanGraphs prediction of 5.6 for 2023 is noteworthy. Like other popular predictions, center fielder Mike is in that he is higher than his elite players in many games, including Trout.
Nearest Challengers: Angels (5.4), Mets (4.9), Braves (4.8), Cardinals (4.1), Yankees (4.1), Twins (4.1)
Right Field: Padres (6.9 WAR)
Key Players: Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto
What a combo here. The projections are even higher if Tatis wasn’t going to miss the first three weeks or so of the season while serving his suspension for violating MLB’s joint drug prevention and treatment program. What will we see from Tatis after missing 2019? Will he be the same as Tatis in 2019-21, who had .965 OPS with 81 homers and 52 stolen bases in his first 273 games? will tell you.
On the other hand, Soto had a “slump year” in 2022 with a .242/.401/.452 batting average, 27 homers, and a major league-leading 135 walks. But what we are talking about is a man who is probably the best hitter in the game at 24 years old. Barring injuries, Soto’s comeback seems like a foregone conclusion.
Nearest Challengers: Yankees (6.2), Dodgers (5.6), Astros (5.5), Braves (4.6), Cubs (3.5)
Designated hitter: Angels (3.3WAR)
Main player: Shohei Ohtani
Not really surprising here. The Angels have Ohtani, last year’s AL MVP runner-up after earning the honor in 2021. It took Aaron Judge and his AL record-record 62 homers to snatch the title of two-way sensation last season — more mounds than he had in 21 years.
In 2022, Ohtani had a .875 OPS, 34 home runs, dominated the mound, and started 28 times for the Angels, recording a 2.33 ERA and an AL-best 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings. He continues to wow us even after all he’s already achieved in both arenas, and next season will be no exception.
Nearest Challengers: Astros (3.1), Yankees (2.7), Blue Jays (2.7), Padres (2.7), White Sox (2.7)
Starting Pitcher: Yankees (16.3 WAR)
Key Players: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortez, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas
This is what happens when you sign Rodon and add him to a starting rotation that already features Cole and Cortez – The Projection Loves You. So he is an ace and a mainstay who is a threat to win the Cy Young Award every year. Cortez had a breakout campaign in 2022, posting a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts for New York.
Enter Rodon, who led the majors in FIP (2.25) and strikeouts per nine innings (12) in his only season with the Giants. He’s another front-line lefty to pair with Cortez and could make the Yanks’ rotation the best in baseball.
New York may be out for a month or so as Montas continues to deal with shoulder inflammation, but he has a deep relationship with Domingo Germain, Clark Schmidt and more. can.
Nearest Challengers: Mets (15.8), Rangers (15.6), Brewers (14.8), Braves (14.4), Phillies (13.8)
Relief pitcher: Braves (4.5 WAR)
Key Players: Razel Iglesias, AJ Minter, Colin McHugh
After the Braves acquired him from the Angels before the trade deadline, Iglesias did wonders for Atlanta, posting a 0.34 ERA in 28 appearances. In his eight seasons in the MLB, this right-hander posted his 3.00 ERA and 157 saves, spending more than his five seasons with the Big Reds, the first of his league career.
Minter continues to be a reliable lefty in the closing stages. He has his 2.06 earned run average and has struck out 35% of his batters faced in his career-high 75 games played (70 innings) last year.
McHugh was excellent in his first season in Atlanta, posting a 2.60 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in 58 games (69 1/3 innings). He is 35 years old, but there are still no signs that the times will catch up with him.
Nearest Challengers: Mets (4.4), Guardians (4.3), Mariners (4.2), Phillies (4.2), Twins (4.2)
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