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Mookie Betts put forth a habitual Betts-type season in 2022, delivering exceptional results across the board as one of the top cross-category producers baseball had to offer.
Betts rebounded from a 2021 season that saw him fall below expectations -- partially due to injury -- with a career-high 35 home runs while finishing in a tie with teammate Freddie Freeman with 117 runs scored. His bounce-back campaign rewarded managers who drafted him around his 15 ADP in NFBC leagues prior to the 2022 season.
Let's review his final stats from 2022 and evaluate his season from a fantasy perspective.
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A Standard Season
Let's start by checking his batting line across the major roto categories.
2022: .269/.340/.533, 117 R, 82 RBI, 35 HR, 12 SB
Betts fell below career norms in the batting average and on-base percentage departments but still turned in an OPS of .873, which finished in line with his .888 career mark. Betts brought increased thump to the table with a .264 isolated power that well eclipsed his .227 career mark, a feature that's been volatile throughout his big-league career. As his monthly splits show, it was far from a smooth ride as Betts traded hot and cold months for much of the 2022 campaign.
The power output doesn't come as a shock considering Betts approached his career highs in several key categories, including barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and launch angle.
While not reminiscent of his unworldly 2018 MVP season with the Boston Red Sox, Betts largely finished with his best percentile rankings over his last three seasons.
Betts was the Dodgers' leadoff hitter for the entirety of the 2022 season, a feature that holds plenty of value on a Los Angeles team that finished first in baseball with 847 runs scored on the season, a cool 40 clear of the second-place Yankees. An 8.6% BB% rate that fell below his 10.2% career mark didn't help, but Betts was able to score a barrel full of runs despite sitting out 20 games on the campaign.
It was a season that fell right around career norms and signaled a notable improvement over his work from the 2021 campaign. The 2011 fifth-round pick didn't reach his 2018 MVP level -- or even approach it -- but still managed to finish fifth in National League MVP voting, finishing behind a list of long-standing veterans in the process.
Mookie Betts 2023 Fantasy Baseball Outlook
Entering his age-30 season, Betts is no longer a consideration for the top pick in drafts for a few reasons. His roto categories remain strong, but it's difficult to imagine Betts getting into the 30/30 department again, especially with some health concerns of late as he's missed 60 contests over the last two seasons. A return to home run power was a sight for sore eyes in 2022, but Betts' ISO figures have experienced significant volatility throughout his nine-year MLB career.
Betts is sporting an 11th overall ADP in NFBC leagues and stands as RotoBaller's sixth-ranked outfielder and ninth-ranked overall player for the 2023 campaign.
It should be close as to whether Betts can warrant his current ADP and preseason rankings and finish as a top 10 fantasy player in 2023. He hasn't hit over .269 in two straight seasons, but at the same time, his batted-ball profile showed significant improvement. A healthy Betts certainly warrants a strong look at an 11 ADP leading off for one of the best offenses in baseball.
Even entering his 30s, Betts is still in his prime performing years and should finish on the cusp of the top 10 again in 2023.
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