2022 MLB Home Run Leaders: Each Team’s HR King

Last Updated on June 6, 2023 by Matt Musico

By now, every baseball fan knows Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber are the 2022 MLB home run leaders. What about each team, though? That’s what we’re here to talk about.

Below are the top-five home run hitters for all 30 MLB teams during the 2022 season. Exactly half the league (15 teams) finished the year with at least one 30-homer player. Two squads couldn’t even get one hitter to the 20-homer plateau. Scroll down to find out who these players are.

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2022 MLB Home Run Leaders

Table of Contents

Arizona Diamondbacks: Christian Walker, 36 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knB9Z40Ueo8

Christian Walker enjoyed a career year with the Dbacks in 2019. It included 29 home runs, 73 RBI, 86 runs scored, 111 wRC+, and 3.2 fWAR. The next two years were rough. Following that breakout, Walker slashed .254/.321/.409 with 17 homers, 80 RBI, and 90 runs scored in 688 plate appearances.

That performance combined for 1.2 fWAR while watching his wRC+ go from 111 to 110 to 87. But in 2022, he made it all the way back. The first baseman set career-high marks in homers (36), RBI (94), wRC+ (122), and fWAR (4.1). He also tied Paul Goldschmidt for the most homers in a season by a DBacks first baseman.

He was reasonably consistent throughout the season, never hitting fewer than four homers or more than nine in one month. Walker had a much easier time hitting on the road (138 wRC+) than at home (106 wRC+). That showed up in his power numbers, as 21 of his 36 homers came as a visiting player.

Remainder of Top 5:

Atlanta Braves: Austin Riley, 38 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK5mRKFObIQ

The Braves made it a point to lock down Austin Riley until at least 2032 this summer. While $212 million doesn’t sound like a value, it could be if the 25-year-old keeps up his current performance.

A 2022 All-Star, Riley set new career-high marks in homers (38), wRC+ (142), and fWAR (5.5) while playing third base. Riley slugged exactly six homers in a month four times in 2022, including each of the first three months.

July was his best of all, though. In 111 plate appearances, the right-handed hitter slashed .423/.459/.885 with 11 homers, 25 RBI, and 21 runs scored. That performance led to a 269 wRC+. The Braves hit 249 home runs as a team in 2022, which is among the most all-time for a single season.

Remainder of Top 5:

Baltimore Orioles: Anthony Santander, 33 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bCexqQPIRs

Heading into 2022, the Orioles hadn’t won more than 60 games in a full season since 2017. They surprised many this year by being in Wild Card contention until the final days thanks to an 83-79 record.

Baltimore had just two players hit more than 20 homers this season. The team leader was Anthony Santander, who put together a career year. He began 2022 with 1.5 career fWAR, then proceeded to post 2.5 over the past six months.

He essentially fit his last two seasons of production into one, too. Between 2020 and 2021 (603 plate appearances), Santander posted a .766 OPS with 29 homers, 82 RBI, and 78 runs scored. Through 647 plate appearances this past year, he posted a .773 OPS with 33 homers, 89 RBI, and 78 runs scored.

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Boston Red Sox: Rafael Devers, 27 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac9pvjYe3ts

The 2022 campaign was a rough one for the Red Sox overall. It was another banner one for Rafael Devers, though, just adding to an already impressive MLB resume. This was his fourth performance of at least 20 homers in Boston.

He paired it with a .295/.358/.521 line, which hasn’t been that good since his breakout campaign in 2019 (.311/.361/.555). His 140 wRC+ set a new single-season career-high mark.

Devers did most of his damage in the first half, as 22 of his 27 total dingers came prior to the All-Star Game. After hitting three in April, the young superstar slugged eight in May. Things continually went down from there each month (six in June, five in July, three in August, two in September).

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Chicago Cubs: Patrick Wisdom, 25 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZJIeKFGQjA

Patrick Wisdom has two seasons of 100-plus games in the big leagues. He also now has two seasons with at least 20 homers.

His debut in 2021 was objectively better (117 wRC+, 2.3 fWAR) than what he just did in 2022 (104 wRC+, 1.1 fWAR). Despite an overall drop in production, he did at least improve both his walk rate (8.5% to 9.9%) and strikeout rate (40.8% to 34.3%).

Wisdom’s power was virtually identical whether he played at Wrigley (12 homers) or hit the road as a visiting player (13 homers). Half of his homer production came during a two-month span in May and June. He hit 13 dingers overall, with eight in May and another five in June.

Outside of that, he hit three homers every other month. After starting that way in April, he hit exactly three in July, August, and September.

Remainder of Top 5:

Chicago White Sox: Andrew Vaughn, 17 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeavItmp5is

The White Sox had eyes on contending for an AL Central title. Unfortunately for them, things didn’t go smoothly on their way to an 81-81 record. As we can see here, Chicago also didn’t have a player slug more than 20 homers.

Andrew Vaughn took a step forward at the plate. However, his poor defensive metrics led to a -0.4 fWAR. We’re not here to talk about that, though.

Vaughn’s wRC+ improved from 93 to 113, while his OPS went from .705 to .750. His power production was spread quite evenly between the first half (10 homers) and the second half (seven homers). But, his overall offensive production took a nosedive after the All-Star break.

He posted a 133 wRC+ and .819 OPS in the first half. Those numbers dropped to 89 and .666, respectively, in the second half. It was mostly powered by a rough end to the regular season. Vaughn slashed .200/.250/.330 over his final 108 plate appearances.

Remainder of Top 5:

Eloy Jimenez: 16
Jose Abreu: 15
Gavin Sheets: 15
A.J. Pollock: 14

Cincinnati Reds: Brandon Drury, 20 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDBnoTNG1fo

You know it’s been a rough year for a team when their season-long home run leader didn’t appear in a game for them over the final two months. In Brandon Drury‘s case, he was dealt at the trade deadline to the San Diego Padres.

He was still a positive addition for Slam Diego, but his best work was done with Cincy. These 20 homers were more than the number he slugged in the three seasons prior combined (19 in 584 plate appearances).

It was June that put Drury on the map. He was already off to a good start with eight homers in the first two months. But then he matched that number in June off the strength of a .333/.376/.627 line in 109 trips to the plate.

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Cleveland Guardians: Jose Ramirez, 29 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFjeTVjLS8

Jose Ramirez began 2022 by signing a seven-year, $141 million extension to stick around in Cleveland. He then proceeded to produce a typical year. This included 6.2 fWAR, a 139 wRC+, and a .280/.355/.514 line in 685 plate appearances.

His 29 homers were the fifth time he surpassed 20 since 2017. He also surpassed the 100-RBI plateau for the third time in his career. It was not only his second year in a row, but the 126 he finished with were a career-high.

Oh, and Ramirez added 20 stolen bases in the process. This is the fourth time he’s posted a 20-20 season. A switch-hitter, Ramirez performed much better left-handed (153 wRC+) than right-handed (97 wRC+). He also slugged 23 of his 29 homers against right-handed pitchers.

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Colorado Rockies: C.J. Cron, 29 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTXFbjryywU

You can add being the Rockies’ 2022 home run king to C.J. Cron‘s resume for this year. With a 504-foot bomb at Coors Field, he also registered the year’s longest home run.

Since hitting a career-high 30 taters for the Rays in 2018, Cron has now surpassed 20 dingers four times. His past two years in Colorado have been ultra-consistent in the power department, as well.

In 547 plate appearances during 2021, Cron hit 28 homers with 92 RBI. After 632 trips to the plate in 2022, he slugged 29 homers with 102 RBI. These are the only two times in his career that he’s surpassed 90 RBI in a single season.

Remainder of Top 5:

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Detroit Tigers: Javier Baez, 17 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5QYKhohgcU

Off the strength of a strong second half with the Mets in 2021, Javier Baez landed a six-year, $140 million with the Tigers. Detroit came into the year with high hopes, but it didn’t go as planned. As for Baez, he had some good moments, but the overall body of work was a smidge disappointing.

His 24.9% strikeout rate was at its lowest point since 2016, but it was accompanied by a 90 wRC+. The lack of consistency from month to month is ultimately what did him in.

Baez posted a wRC+ better than 100 three times (April, July, and September). In the three months he failed to reach that number, it was below 70 twice (22 in May, 64 in August).

Remainder of Top 5:

Houston Astros: Yordan Alvarez, 37 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVYJWccgVg

Yordan Alvarez is a hitting machine. He’s just 25 years old, yet already has three seasons of 30-plus homers and 3.0-plus fWAR under his belt.

The 2022 campaign was his best yet. His 185 wRC+ and 6.6 fWAR are new single-season career-high marks. If he wasn’t limited to 135 games, he also would’ve slugged way more than 37 dingers. It’s not like that wasn’t a lot, though — it’s still a new single-season best for him. He also threw in his second career three-homer game for good measure.

Alvarez’s consistency is what’s mind-boggling about him. He was just as good against lefties (183 wRC+) as he was against righties (186 wRC+). The same could be said about his home (183) and away (186) splits. Heck, the only time he posted a wRC+ lower than 150 in a single month was August when it was 87. He followed that with a 212 mark to finish the year in September/October.

The same could be said about his homer production. Alvarez didn’t have a double-digit homer month, but he hit between six and nine homers five times. August was the one month he struggled here again, hitting just one.

Remainder of Top 5:

Kansas City Royals: Salvador Perez, 23 Home Runs

A year after tying Jorge Soler for the single-season franchise home run record, Salvador Perez came back down to Earth a bit. He was limited to just 114 games but still slugged 23 homers with 76 RBI off a 108 wRC+.

His 46.0% fly-ball rate was the highest it’s been since 2017, but the hard-hit rate didn’t follow. That number had been above 40.0% for three straight years. In 2022, it went back down to 34.2%.

Perez’s performance was evenly split between the first half (236 plate appearances) and the second half (237 PA). It was a strong finish that helped him get to where he ended up.

Prior to the All-Star break, the backstop slashed .211/.254/.426 with 11 homers and an 86 wRC+. He came back to hit .297/.329/.505 with 12 homers and a 131 wRC+ down the stretch.

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Los Angeles Angels: Mike Trout, 40 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QYldz0Is7U

Mike Trout was limited to 119 games, but that didn’t stop him from doing his usual dominating when on the field. This 40-homer campaign was the third of his career and first since slugging 45 in 2019. He nearly tied an MLB record by hitting a homer in seven straight games in September, too.

The outfielder posted a 56.7% fly-ball rate in 2022, which was easily the highest of his career. And if we take out the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, it’s the first time Trout has produced a number greater than 50.0% in that category.

The 36.5% hard-hit rate he posted for this batted-ball event was his lowest since 2011. It’s also interesting that Trout had a 21.8% pull rate on fly balls. This just gave him an opportunity to showcase his power to all fields.

Remainder of Top 5:

Los Angeles Dodgers: Mookie Betts, 35 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwcwBM-Lv8

The 142 games Mookie Betts played for the Dodgers were the most he’s played in a season since 2019 with the Boston Red Sox. Naturally, he put up some big numbers with all those opportunities.

It’s amazing that Los Angeles only had one hitter with 30-plus homers on a 111-win squad, but such is life. The 6.6 fWAR Betts posted is the fifth time he’s accumulated at least 5.0 in a season.

The outfielder also had a very weird first three months before things normalized over the latter portion of the regular season. Betts owned a 114 wRC+ in April, but it was accompanied by an uncharacteristic .230/.352/.378 line and three homers and six RBI. Then he went off in May to the tune of 12 homers, 27 RBI, and a .342/.411/.746 line.

Instead of building upon that, his performance dipped back down. Betts slashed .193/.207/.316 with a 44 wRC+, three homers, and seven RBI. He only played in 13 games during June, but 58 plate appearances are enough of a sample size to know he struggled.

He still found a way to stay consistent when comparing his first-half performance (142 wRC+) to what he did in the second half (146).

Remainder of Top 5:

Miami Marlins: Jesus Aguilar, 15 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAss0cMSPIg

Jesus Aguilar didn’t play the final month of the regular season with the Marlins after they designated him for assignment at the end of August. He finished the year in Baltimore and still became Miami’s 2022 home run king.

That right there tells how tough of a year the Marlins had on offense.

It wasn’t the kind of year Aguilar was hoping for, either. The only month he finished with a wRC+ better than 90 was in May. It was 117 and paired with a .780 OPS. May also included his highest homer output, which was five.

Aguilar then went on a streak of three straight months with exactly three homers. He also bookended his year with one homer in April and one in September/October.

Remainder of Top 5:

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2022 MLB Home Run Leaders

Milwaukee Brewers: Rowdy Tellez, 35 Home Runs

Between 2018 and 2021, Rowdy Tellez hit 44 home runs. In the course of just one season where he played regularly, he slugged a career-high 35 dingers. This was joined by 89 RBI and 67 runs scored, which are both easily new career-high marks, too.

These huge power numbers didn’t lead to huge production elsewhere, though. Tellez finished with 0.8 fWAR and 110 wRC+ thanks to a .219/.306/.461 line.

He hit between four and seven home runs each month from April to August. Then, the first baseman saved his best power display for last with eight homers in September/October. Tellez very much enjoyed playing at home, too. He slugged 22 of those 35 homers in Milwaukee.

Remainder of Top 5:

Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton, 28 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8FTNqdebec

Byron Buxton had a weird year. The increase in power production that started in 2020 has continued to stay with him — 2022 was the third consecutive year he had an ISO better than .300. But he also only appeared in 92 games for the Twins. The 2017 season remains the only time we’ve seen this dude play 100-plus games.

Comparing his 2022 numbers to what he did the year prior, Buxton saw his OPS dip from 1.005 to .833 and his strikeout rate went up from 24.4% to 30.4%. Despite playing in 31 more games, his 4.0 fWAR from this past year just missed matching his 2021 number (4.1).

His first three months were a roller coaster. Buxton went from posting a 200 wRC+ in April to a 74 mark in May before going back up to 198 in June. The final month of this roller coaster was the most powerful of all. Buxton slugged nine homers in 90 plate appearances.

Remainder of Top 5:

New York Mets: Pete Alonso, 40 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xon1lRUvkrQ

There’s only one hitter in Mets history with multiple seasons of 40-plus homers and 120-plus RBI. That man is first baseman, Pete Alonso. His 131 RBI in 2022 both led Major League Baseball and set a new single-season franchise record.

It was a solid year for Pete. He got on this trajectory with a huge month of May. His performance included a .315/.398/.611 line with nine homers and 30 RBI (another franchise record). Alonso also followed this up with another nine homers in June.

While the Polar Bear didn’t enjoy a double-digit homer month in 2022, he reached nine on three occasions. The last time was in September/October. He paired it with another 26 RBI and a 161 wRC+, which was his best since that two-month span earlier in the year.

Remainder of Top 5:

New York Yankees: Aaron Judge, 62 Home Runs

What is there to say about Aaron Judge‘s 2022 campaign? The new AL home run record holder had a walk year for the ages. This was the perfect time to bet on himself with a new contract on the line.

We just talked about how Alonso just missed hitting double-digit homers in a month three times. Judge was the antithesis of that. He hit at least 10 dingers in a month four different times. And if he had hit one more in August, it would’ve been five.

When the rookie home run record was in his sights in 2017, Judge saved his best work for September of that season. The same happened in 2022 as he closed in on Roger Maris‘ record. He slugged 11 homers with 18 RBI over his final 136 trips to the plate, which also included a .380/.533/.780 line.

Overall, he just kicked it up a notch after the All-Star Game. It’s not like his 173 wRC+ in the first half was bad, either. But when it increases to 251 down the stretch, it’ll make even more jaws drop to the floor.

Remainder of Top 5:

Oakland Athletics: Seth Brown, 25 Home Runs

After hitting 20 homers in 111 games during the 2021 season, Seth Brown turned right around and added another 25 for the Athletics. There were certain situations where this dude excelled most regarding his power.

The left-handed hitter didn’t enjoy facing southpaws. That was evidenced by his 60 wRC+ and three homers. Facing righties was much more enjoyable. It was a situation that obviously led to his 22 other homers and also a 129 wRC+. Brown also wasn’t too fond of the Coliseum, but only when it came to hitting homers. Eight of his dingers came in front of the home crowd, with the other 17 coming on the road.

Brown turned it on a little more after the All-Star break. Despite getting 55 fewer plate appearances in the second half, he outpaced his homer production (15 to 10). He also watched his .665 OPS and 91 wRC+ jump up to .855 and 147, respectively, after the midsummer respite.

Remainder of Top 5:

Philadelphia Phillies: Kyle Schwarber, 46 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pchNDHio8WE

It only took Kyle Schwarber one year to reach the top five of the Phillies’ single-season home run leaderboard. And, similar to how he did it in 2021, a healthy number of these dingers came as a leadoff hitter.

Although the left-handed hitter posted just a .218 batting average, he still managed 2.6 fWAR and a 128 wRC+ thanks to those homers. The slugger also set single-season career-high marks in runs scored (100), RBI (94), and stolen bases (10).

He slugged 22 of his 46 homers over a two-month span between June and July. However, his slugging percentage was nearly identical between the first half (.503) and the second half (.506). Of course, his power display isn’t just limited to the regular season.

Remainder of Top 5:

Pittsburgh Pirates: Bryan Reynolds, 27 Home Runs

Bryan Reynolds‘ overall performance took a step back in 2022. His fWAR went from 6.1 to 2.9. But if we’re just talking about his power, the outfielder set a new single-season career-high mark in home runs with 27. This was the second straight year of him getting over the 20-homer mark.

Reynolds’ efforts were a little more impressive because his fly-ball rate went slightly down compared to 2021 (35.5% to 34.7%), and his hard-hit rate took a deeper dive (34.5% to 29.8%). In fact, since posting a 42.9% hard-hit rate as a rookie in 2019, that number has gone down each year since.

Reynolds hit eight homers in June, which was his most of any month. But after going homer-less in 48 July plate appearances, he finished the year strong. In his final 258 trips to the plate, Reynolds slugged 12 homers with 30 RBI and 34 runs scored with a .278/.364/.480 line.

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San Diego Padres: Manny Machado, 32 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfxdAGAHPZM

Elite levels of both defense and offense led to a career year for Manny Machado in San Diego. Prior to 2022, he posted three seasons of at least 6.0 fWAR, with one of them being 7.0 (that was in 2018). But this year, he passed all those numbers with a 7.4 mark in 150 games played.

Machado was one of the few constants for the Padres. His 32 homers were the sixth time he got over 30. It was also the first time he passed the century mark in both RBI (102) and runs scored (100) in the same year.

The veteran third baseman was quite calculated when it came to his monthly home run production, too. He hit four homers in each of April, May, and June, followed by six in July and August. To cap things off, he slugged eight in September/October. The majority of his time in the lineup was spent in the three-hole — he posted a 158 wRC+ with 26 homers when manager Bob Melvin penciled him in there.

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San Francisco Giants: Joc Pederson, 23 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWebkxs7bSA

For many hitters, their power suffers in San Francisco while playing at Oracle Park. That didn’t happen for Joc Pederson, though. Sure, his 23 homers didn’t get close to eclipsing the 36 he slugged in 2019 for the Dodgers.

But still, the overall production was there, and in a big way. Pederson slashed .274/.353/.521 with a 144 wRC+. His .874 OPS was the second-highest of his career and that wRC+ number was his best.

It was helpful for him to have a 45.0% fly-ball rate paired with a 40.1% hard-hit rate. Pederson was also one of those dudes who just lived for the situation. With nobody on base, he posted a .775 OPS and 119 wRC+. When runners were on base with him at the plate, those numbers shot up to 1.019 and 180, respectively. But if those guys were in scoring position, it went up again (1.111 and 200, respectively).

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Seattle Mariners: Eugenio Suarez, 31 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYdDFp6Tfoc

Did Eugenio Suarez have one of the most dramatic one-season turnarounds when it comes to offensive production in 2022? Yes. What I do love about this, though, is that his 31 homers equaled his 2021 total exactly.

But instead of finishing with an 84 wRC+ and -0.1 fWAR, he posted a 131 wRC+ and 4.1 fWAR.

Suarez’s strikeout rate went up to 31.2%, but his walk rate joined that number with an 11.6% mark. His chase rate matches these numbers, too. His chase rate went from 27.5% to 24.7%. While Suarez’s swing rate on strikes didn’t change much, his contact rate on strikes went from 85.4% to 79.8%.

He made the most of his contact, though, that’s for sure. His most powerful month of the year came in August when the infielder slugged nine homers. He added another six in September/October, so just about half of his season-long homer number came in the final two months.

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St. Louis Cardinals: Paul Goldschmidt, 35 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSF1Zk-hvBM

Paul Goldschmidt has always been quietly consistent throughout his MLB career. He’s constantly one of the game’s most underrated players because of his elite production many seem to forget about. That didn’t happen in 2022 because he made lots of noise in an MVP-caliber campaign.

His 7.1 fWAR is the second-highest single-season mark of his career. He also added a career-high 177 wRC+ off the strength of a .317/.404/.578 line. This included 35 homers, 115 RBI, and 106 runs scored in 651 plate appearances.

Goldschmidt was a triple-crown contender for most of the year, and it happened despite a somewhat pedestrian start. The first baseman posted a .728 OPS and 114 wRC+ with one homer in April before going on an incredible two-month tear.

Between May and June (237 plate appearances), Goldschmidt slashed .365/.449/.729 with 18 homers, 55 RBI, and 45 runs scored. That performance led to a 227 wRC+. The power slowed down after this stretch, but he did add another nine dingers in August.

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Tampa Bay Rays: Randy Arozarena & Isaac Paredes, 20 Home Runs

Randy Arozarena, MLB’s single-postseason home run king, has proven to be quite productive during the regular season, too. He hit exactly 20 homers for the second straight year, but also paired it with 89 RBI and 32 steals.

Like Goldschmidt, Arozarena’s year got off to a slow start. It was just much slower than Goldy, though. Through his first 81 plate appearances, the outfielder didn’t have a homer and struggled to a 48 wRC+.

He recovered, but it still put a damper on his first-half stats. Prior to the All-Star Game, Arozarena posted a .744 OPS and 116 wRC+. His bat continued to wake up down the stretch, as those numbers improved to .811 and 137, respectively, in the second half.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkH-ZzClxcQ

As for Isaac Paredes, his power surge pretty much came out of nowhere. Through his first 193 plate appearances with the Tigers in 2020 and 2021, he hit just two homers. So naturally, the Rays find a way to squeeze 20 out of him in 381 plate appearances throughout 2022. His batting average (.205) and on-base percentage (.304) weren’t much different than in previous years. But all those homers jacked up his slugging percentage to .435, thus giving him a career-high .740 OPS.

The only time he hit more than four homers in a month came in June. Paredes slugged eight during that part of the calendar, which also included a .271/.362/.712 line with 14 RBI and 11 runs scored in just 69 plate appearances.

Remainder of Top 5:

Texas Rangers: Corey Seager, 33 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arDVn4_rQWs

Corey Seager‘s first year with the Rangers didn’t go well from a team performance standpoint. After spending a ton of money last offseason, Texas posted a 68-94 record. But for Seager, it was a banner year.

The 4.5 fWAR he posted was the first time he’s gotten over 4.0 since consecutive campaigns of 5.0 from 2016-17. And while his triple slash took a bit of a dip (.245/.317/.455), it was accompanied by a career-high 33 home runs. Of those dingers, 18 came on four-seam fastballs. That’s the highest this number has been since 2019 (10).

Seager had three different months with a wRC+ below 100 in 2022. His best two-month stretch was in July and August. He hit 14 of his 33 homers during this span while slashing .292/.371/.554 with a 158 wRC+.

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Toronto Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 32 Home Runs

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 23 years old on the final day of the 2022 season. He’s already posted two seasons of 30-plus homers for the Blue Jays. That’s a pretty good pace he’s got going for himself here.

His performance didn’t measure in quite the same way as his near-AL-MVP performance in 2021. Vlad Jr. was still a force to be reckoned with. It is interesting to see that the majority of his production came against right-handed pitching, though. Guerrero hit 28 homers with a 138 wRC+ in that situation, as opposed to a 99 wRC+ and just four homers against southpaws.

The slugger’s month-to-month production was quite consistent. He didn’t post a double-digit homer month in 2022, but he did slug at least five dingers on four different occasions.

For Vladdy, making solid contact is never a problem. His hard-hit rate in 2022 checked in at 38.2%. What will likely be a focus for him is getting the ball in the air more. After posting a 44.8% ground-ball rate and a 36.5% fly-ball rate in 2021, those numbers settled in at 52.1% and 30.6% this past year.

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Washington Nationals: Juan Soto, 21 Home Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3AqfU4LbgY

When you trade Juan Soto and Josh Bell at the trade deadline and they both still end up at the top of your team’s home run leaderboard, it’s been a rough year. That’s exactly what happened for the Nats.

His struggles in San Diego aside, it seems like Soto mostly had to adjust to teams not challenging him like they used to. With a lot less protection in Washington’s lineup, that wasn’t a shocking series of events.

In 436 plate appearances with the Nats, Soto still produced 2.8 fWAR and a 152 wRC+ thanks to a .246/.408/.485 line. His walk rate outpaced his strikeout rate for the third straight year, and that began in D.C. before getting traded (20.9% walk rate, 14.2% strikeout rate).

Soto hit at least four homers in each of the first five months of his season. September/October was the only time he didn’t reach that number. He came close, though, by hitting three dingers.

Remainder of Top 5:

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