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While it’s important not to put too much inventory into a month on the baseball calendar, it’s hard not to pay attention when a player finishes the season on a high note.
This is especially true for young players trying to establish themselves or formerly productive veterans who have not had the year they expected. Raise your expectations of what you will do.
We can’t wait to get into the 2023 season, so here are 10 interesting hitters who burst into action in 2022.
Oswaldo Cabrera, UTL, Yankees
Cabrera was almost exclusively an infielder with the Minors, but after being called up by the Yankees in August 2022, Cabrera played all over the Diamond. Arm — just north of the 200th inning. The 23-year-old’s at bat also heated up later in the year, and in his last 23 games he averaged .304 with 6 home runs, 11 walks and .984 OPS. The door opened for Cabrera to land a left field job this spring after the Yanks lost Andrew Benintendi to the White Sox in free agency.
Corbyn Carroll, OF, D-backs
A potential Five Tool star, Carroll joined the D-backs last August and has shown his dynamic skill set over 32 games in Arizona. The third-best overall prospect in the MLB pipeline not only drew attention with his legs (an MLB-leading average sprint speed of 30.7 ft/sec) and grabs (5 outs more than average), but his bat and got 15 extra base hits. He had hits (4 home runs) and in 115 plate appearances he had 133 OPS+. He is set to enter 2023 as one of his top contenders for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
Oneil Cruz, SS, Pirate
Everything about Cruz is extreme, from power to speed to arm strength. Although he has played less than 100 career games, he already owns the records for hardest hit (122.4 mph) and fastest infield assist (97.8 mph) in Statcast tracking (since 2015). , both barrel rate and sprint speed are ranked. Last season he finished 96th he was above the percentile. Even his height – he’s 6 foot 7 shortstop – is extreme. Unfortunately, this also applies to his tendency to whimper, which seems to be one of the things that keep Cruz from becoming a superstar. While he has taken steps to cut down on the problems he will have in the second half of 2022, Chase has dramatically lowered his rate and increased contact with his swing in the strike zone. He finally slashed his 0.288/.359/.525 with a 0.31 BB/K ratio he posted in September/October and from 0.202/.257/.409 he had a 0.18 BB/K In he improved until the end of August. A talented 24-year-old, he could have big achievements heading into 2023.
JD Davis, 3B/DH, Giants
Despite being ranked 3rd among qualifiers in hard hit percentage (behind AL MVP Aaron Judge and 3rd place finisher Jordan Alvarez) and 9th in barrel rate last season, Davis will compete in 2022. I struggled at bat as a member of the Mets for the majority of the time. (.683 OPS). However, after a summer trade to the Giants, he thrived, and in his 49 games with San Francisco he had eight home runs and . 857 OPS. The 29-year-old has a lot of swings and mistakes in his game, but if he continues to make quality contact at such an elite level, he’s better than any guy we’ve seen on the Giants. It should look like the guy we saw in the Mets last year. San Francisco is expecting it after missing the judges and leaving Carlos Correa’s contract due to his physical concerns.
Brian De La Cruz, OF, Marlins
During his multiple stints with the Miners, de la Cruz was one of the most unlucky hitters last season. However, the tide began to turn in the second half of the season as he batted . 388/. 419/. That year, this outfielder ranked above the 90th percentile in his xBA (96th), xSLG (94th), and xwOBA (90th), and has been an offensively hungry Marlins regular at his club ever since. ready to compete for playing time. The end of the Giancarlo Stanton/Christian Yelich/Marcel Ozuna era.
oscar gonzalez, OF, Guardians
Before making a name for himself with multiple walk-off hits during the postseason, Gonzalez delivered an excellent stretch run to the Guardians’ AL Central Title win, including a series-ending home run in the AL Wild Card Series against the Rays. The rookie outfielder posted a .312 batting average, six home runs, and a .840 OPS after the calendar flipped to his September, giving him just 15.9 at-bats in that period despite his aggressive approach. Recorded strikeouts in %. He also flashed one of the most powerful arms in baseball, which left much to be desired as part of his overall defensive performance (-6 OAA). It’s trying to cement itself as the long-term answer in right field.
Danny Jansen, C, Blue Jays
Jansen’s offense was supposed to be his calling card when he was one of baseball’s top prospects, but in his first 181 games at the major league level, he posted .668 OPS and an 80 I was recording OPS+. His bat finally made an appearance at the end of his 2021 season, battling multiple injuries last year, including a left oblique strain and a broken finger, but was mostly out at .344/.431/.344 strength. I was able to record a career high in the category of 634 in his slash, in his final 31 games he hit six home runs and his nine doubles. Janssen was reportedly available in a trade this offseason, but the Blue Jays ultimately chose to trade young backstop Gabriel Moreno instead, doubling as Dalton Bacho’s D-back. traded him with Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Joey Meneses, 1B/OF, Nationals
There weren’t many reasons to pay attention to the nuts last season, especially after trading Juan Soto to the Padres, and this was one of them.A long career in the minor leagues, including the 2018 International League MVP award And after a brief stay in Japan, the Mexican-born Meneses finally made his MLB debut at the age of 30 last August. He hit in his 21st of his 23 games in the first and hasn’t slowed down from there, going from September to October where he finished .318/.366 in 32 games. 543 slashing, and had 7 home runs and 23 RBIs. The rebuilding Nationals will have a long run to see if he’s the real deal in 2023.
Whit Merrifield, 2B, Blue Jays
Merrifield’s lengthy tenure with the Royals ended in whining when he was traded to the Blue Jays for two low-level prospects before the 2022 trade deadline. After a lousy season, he showed good signs at the end of the year, batting .400 with four home runs and 1.133 OPS in his last 18 games. Merrifield, who had only played six in his 95 games with Kansas City before the trade, was able to keep down home runs by using his center Rodgers as his park at home instead of at Kauffman Stadium. It will be interesting to see if we can increase power production over the course of the season.
Vinnie Pascantino, 1B, Royals
Since the Royals picked him with the 11th round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, everything Pascantino has done has been a rake, and his shortened rookie season was no exception. Pascantino had a slow start, mostly due to bad batting luck, and in August he had five homers and a .992 OPS, and in September he had a . He returned from a stint at IL to score the slash and did an incredible job. /October. In his first taste of MLB action, the man known as “Italian Nightmare” displayed an excellent combination of power, batting discipline and contact ability to achieve his xwOBA of .374. he qualifies.
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