Hunter Brown, RHP, AstrosProjection: 100 IP, 3.41 ERA, 108 K. The Astros' No. Kyle Schwarber delivered in a big way for fantasy managers in 2022. 9 hole. The 6'4", 240-pound slugger will enter the 2023 season with a clean bill of health, and if he can stay on the field for the entire year, he has the raw power to be among the AL home run leaders. That includes six complete games and a shutout. Cron (423 feet), who played his home games at Coors Field, and Kyle Schwarber (413 feet) have averaged longer homers. Andrew Vaughn spent the first two seasons of his big league career miscast as an outfielder and trying his best to learn a new defensive position on the fly. The Philadelphia Phillies selected Alec Bohm with the No. With baseball's return just around the corner, we can't help but throw around predictions for the 2023 season. Julio Rodrguez, CF, MarinersProjection: 5.9 WAR, 142 wRC+, 32 HR, 25 SB. Let's start with some honorable mentions. 2 overall prospect has the best projections of any rookie for 2023. Steamers projections have the ALs new home run king following his record-breaking 2022 season by leading the Majors with 44 homers in 2023. With Daulton Varsho traded to Toronto during the offseason, Walker is the only player on the D-backs roster who hit more than 14 home runs last season. Here are 12 of the most interesting player projections for the 2023 season. Cron hit just .197 with eight home runs after the All-Star break last year, so we'll go with Bryant who is looking to rebound from an injury-plagued first season of his seven-year, $182 million deal. Carpenter launched 30 home runs in 98 games between Double-A and Triple-A last season before making his MLB debut in August. Aaron Judge knocked in 62 and broke. Odds. Only Mike Trout, Judge, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Byron Buxton own superior marks among qualified hitters. Kyle Schwarber didn't lead MLB in home runs last season, but he did lead the National League. If he can stay healthy for a full season (and Judge doesnt author another historic campaign), he will be in the mix. He was second in the American League with 37 home runs in 2022 and that was in just 135 games. Giants: Mitch Haniger(24)In his last healthy season, Haniger hit 39 home runs -- but that mark is likely beyond reach with the move to Oracle Park. -Fernando Tatis Jr. #padres pic.twitter.com/5SQbR3YxVg, Allison Edmonds (@aedmondstv) February 14, 2023. Alonso has also averaged a whopping 46 dingers per 162 games and he's dropped his strikeout rate from 26.4% in his debut season to 18.7% last year. We're less than two weeks away from the start of the 2023 MLB Draft and we've expanded the MLB Pipeline Draft board to a Top 250. Astros: Yordan Alvarez(36)Since his 2019 debut, Alvarez has set a ludicrous home run pace, averaging 43 per 162 games. every opportunity to develop into a star, which should mean plenty of plate appearances to rack up an impressive home run total Only Tatis and Judge have a superior ISO to Ohtanis .289 mark over the last two seasons while Judge is the lone hitter to do so while playing games in both seasons. Aaron Ashby, LHP, BrewersProjection: 8-6, 3.29 ERA, 134 K, 10.11 K/9. Arizona Diamondbacks: 1B Christian Walker. He will likely be asked to fill a more prominent place in the batting order this year after spending much of his rookie season hitting in the No. Before you go, though, take note -- most projections are conservative by nature and arent designed to predict outstanding seasons. Mike Trout : 38: 4. 3 in the 2019 draft. If Acua can stay on the field in 2023, hes a great candidate to lead the Majors in steals. Rutschman's plus defense at a premium position is a big factor, but he's also projected to be the second-best hitting catcher behind Alejandro Kirk. 1. News. It's time for our last Draft prospect list update! Hes homered 80 times tied for second in the bigs while appearing in all but nine of his teams games over the last two seasons. 1. Ohtani is projected for the seventh-most home runs as a hitter and the fifth-best ERA and eighth-most strikeouts as a starting pitcher. 2023 MLB Stats & MLB Leaders - Home Runs | FOX Sports 15. Hes hit at least 30 home runs in four of his last five seasons unaffected by COVID. His .303 ISO since entering the league in 2019 ranks third in baseball behind just Trout and Judge. Steamer has him finishing with 39 but that appears to be a mere baseline for a guy thats homered more than anybody since entering the league. Rule Changes Probable Pitchers Starting Lineups . Below are the exit velocity, distance, pitch velocity and spin rate leaders among the prospects at the Draft Combine, based on all recorded data. While there is no shortage of established power hitters around MLB, there is always a new crop of sluggers poised to join the ranks of baseball's home run elite. Hitters to Avoid | Target Pitchers to Avoid | Target Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft 8 Sleeper Targets for Home Runs Joc Pederson (OF - SF) There is a lot to like here for Joc Pederson.. Putting his 14 home runs into full-season context, he hit them over his team's first 73 games, so extrapolated over a fully healthy 162-game season he would have finished with 31 home runs had he continued at that early season pace. 2023 MLB Player Hitting Stat Leaders | MLB.com This year, more projections than usual are likely to center around home run totals -- after all, this time last year, did anyone have Aaron Judge hitting 62? Braves: Austin Riley(35)Riley has been one of the best hitters in the NL for two seasons, so itd be nothing shocking if he followed up 33- and 38-homer seasons with another 35. If both Ohtani and Trout can stay healthy, its possible that the 2023 home run chase plays out entirely within the Angels lineup though Judge and Co. certainly figure to have something to say about that. MLB's Projected Home Run Leaders For 2023 - BaseballRumors.Me He hit .316 in a breakout season with the Twins last year, when he was selected as an All-Star for the first time in his career. Adley Rutschman will likely always be more of a doubles hitter than a truly elite power threat, but he's also capable of a significant spike from the 13 home runs he hit during a brilliant rookie season for the Baltimore Orioles. That said, the safe bet is still Machado, who put together the sixth 30-homer season of his career in 2022. Outfielder Oscar Gonzalez never ranked higher than the No. But you wouldn't expect these projections if you just looked at his stat sheet. Tigers: Javier Bez (22)The Tigers, who didnt have a single player hit 20 home runs in 2022, are projected to have two in 23 -- Bez and Austin Meadows (20). Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Next Up - Leading Off, FantasyPros Baseball Podcast: Jesus Luzardo, Max Scherzer, Brandon Pfaadt (6/30), 191 K. Are you looking to contact Customer Support about a subscription or account related question? Pretty much nobody makes higher-quality contact than Alvarez, who also gave himself more opportunities for dingers by slicing more than five percentage points off his strikeout rate. March 29, 2023 7 min read Follow Us Subscribe As Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine once exclaimed, "chicks dig the long ball." Let's be real though, everyone loves dingers! Outfielder Adam Duvall is just a year removed from a 38-homer season, but he will be looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2022 campaign. Standings. With Ji-Man Choi traded to Pittsburgh, it looks like Paredes will have an everyday spot at one of the corner-infield positions. He has three 40-homer seasons since 2015, tied for most in MLB during that span. At 22 years old and after just one big league season, Rodrguez is projected to be a top-three player in all of baseball in 2023. Yoshida will try to follow in the footsteps of fellow Orix alum Ichiro Suzuki by making the transition from the Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball organization to MLB with a batting title in his rookie season. Seiya Suzuki hit .317/.433/.636 with a career-high 38 home runs in 134 games during his final season with the Hiroshima Carp in the Japanese League before signing a five-year, $85 million deal with the Chicago Cubs last offseason. Newcomers Jesse Winker and William Contreras should also add some pop to the middle of the order. However, a healthy 2022 season included a career-high 46 home runs, 100 runs, and 94 RBI. Ronald Acuna Jr. is a fantasy baseball favorite due to his power and speed combination, but he could be primed for a career-best power output in 2023. It still amazes me a two-way player can make this list but here we are with the unrivaled Shohei Ohtani. The big baseball projection systems are already looking ahead to the 2023 season. pic.twitter.com/bC9loelBoG. Francisco lvarez, New York Mets6. Hes also entering just his age-25 season and theoretically approaching his prime seasons. That might be enough to lead a roster that has been stripped to the studs. video game create-a-player, though he does still have work to do in He hit just .219 last year, but still posted a 115 OPS+ with 35 home runs to finish fifth in the NL home run race. We've highlighted 10 players who have never reached 20 home runs in a single season but could be poised to take a prominent position on the homer leaderboard in 2023. Minute Maid Park in Houston is much friendlier to right-handed home run hitters than lefties such as Kyle Tucker, but heres a player who could surprise his way to a home run crown nonetheless. Newcomer Josh Bell will add some punch to the middle of the Cleveland lineup, but it's still Ramrez who is the team's biggest power threat. And he's projected to lead the Majors in on-base percentage by 43 points, at .431. Gerrit Cole, Yankees: 14 wins, 249 strikeouts. Brown posted a 0.89 ERA down the stretch and made three scoreless appearances in the postseason. Colton Cowser, OF, Orioles. Steamer has him leading MLB with 14 wins and 249 strikeouts, but if he does break out and have a huge year for New York, we could see 20 or more wins with 300 or more strikeouts (which is not unprecedented for him -- he struck out 326 in 2019). Marlins: Jazz Chisholm Jr.(27)Weve yet to see Chisholm play a full, healthy season, but he did hit 14 home runs in just 60 games in 2022. It was a real debate among us for the new No. . As we get closer and closer to Opening Day, there will be predictions and projections galore for teams and individual players in 2023. Just a year removed from a 38-homer season and with two 40-homer seasons on his resume, Gallo is looking to rebound from a forgettable 2022 campaign. His solid batted-ball metrics speak to his raw talent, and given his strong collegiate and minor league track record, there is still plenty of reason to believe he can be a cornerstone player in Detroit. And Ohtanis homers are anything but cheap ones. Steamer sees a big turnaround in Ashby's numbers in 2023, probably thanks to his high strikeout rates. We are not including rookies on our list, but here's our best guess at who leads the 2023 rookie class in home runs. We've also made some changes throughout in . RotoWire provides millions of annual users with the latest fantasy sports, daily fantasy sports, and sports betting news, information, tools, and more. Its been a short journey to superstardom for Yordan Alvarez and he should compete for a home-run crown, among other accolades, in the 2023 season. No one has thrown more innings than Alcantaras 673 2/3 over the last four seasons. Steamer has Yoshida batting .298, the second-best batting average projection behind only Luis Arraez, with a .388 projected on-base percentage that's second only to Juan Soto. Let's look for the players whose stat lines jump out. Aaron Judge has 19 homers to his name to date. Hes always had plenty of raw power, however, his runs and RBI production never matched others who hit for as much power as he did. The 2023 Major League Baseball season began on March 30, with the regular season planned to end on October 1. Barrels are batted balls with the ideal combination of launch angle and exit velocity, typically resulting in extra-base hits. Steamer sees a big season coming from Guerrero after a 2022 campaign in which he took a step back offensively on the heels of a runner-up finish to Shohei Ohtani in the 21 AL MVP race. Predicting the Top 5 Home Run leaders in 2023 MLB season. 2. The No. Adley Rutschman, C, OriolesProjection: 5.6 WAR, 130 wRC+. -- Sarah Langs. The 21-year-old infielder, who posted a 126 wRC+ down the stretch last year in a 34-game callup, is projected to be just as good of a hitter in 2023 -- but over a full season. With 80 home runs the past two seasons, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would have been the easy pick here, but Bichette is capable of another step forward in the power department.