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Brenton Kemp looks at New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge's 2022 fantasy baseball season in review and predicts how he will do in 2023 for fantasy baseball.
Aaron Judge not only continued his career-long assault on major league pitching in 2022 but delivered a season for the ages and one not witnessed since the 1961 campaign.
Judge earned his fifth overall ADP in NFBC leagues with flying colors, launching a historic 62 home runs to set a new American League record, breaking the previous mark of 61 set by fellow Yankee Roger Maris in that 1961 campaign.
Let's review his final stats from 2022 and evaluate his season from a fantasy perspective.
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The Historic Campaign
Let's start by checking his batting line across the major roto categories.
2022: .311/.425/.686, 133 R, 131 RBI, 62 HR, 16 SB
Judge was a cross-category monster in the 2022 campaign, delivering elite numbers across the board. To put his eye-popping season into perspective, his worst OPS on a monthly basis came in June when he posted a .922 mark, still ranking 28th in baseball in that department for the month while finishing second with 11 home runs across 28 games. June and April were the only months in which Judge finished with an OPS in triple digits.
As consistent as he was in the power department, Judge's plate discipline exceeded career norms while he managed to keep his strikeout rate in check. While still below league average, Judge managed a 25% K% on the season, right in line with his 25% mark from 2021 and notably superior to his 28.7% career mark. The replication of an improved K% also came with plenty of career highs and elite rankings in Judge's batted-ball profile.
Judge's ability to play both right and center field -- along with designated hitter duties -- allows manager Aaron Boone to pencil him into the starting lineup on an everyday basis. Boone even began using Judge as the club's leadoff hitter later in the season as his final 23 starts of the season came out of the leadoff spot. The plethora of home runs allows Judge to collect plenty of RBIs, but hitting in the leadoff spot with plenty of protection behind him aided him in producing a career-high 133 runs.
The historic campaign we witnessed from the 30-year-old outfielder saw Judge run away with the American League MVP award, collecting 28 of 30 first-place votes with the Angels' Shohei Ohtani responsible for the other two.
What To Expect From Judge in 2023 Fantasy Baseball
Judge is one of the few players in baseball you can feel comfortable trusting with an early first-round pick. He's having his name called around the fifth overall pick in mock drafts heading toward the 2023 season, and while he's shown holes in his swing with the elevated whiff and strikeout rates, he's proven to be a fantasy monster when healthy.
Entering his age-31 season, Judge isn't nearly as popular in dynasty leagues but fares extremely well in RotoBaller's early outfield rankings for 2023.
With prodigious power, elite on-base ability, and speed to boot, Judge should certainly be able to reward fantasy managers trusting him with an early pick again in 2023. Admittedly, he will certainly be hard-pressed to repeat a magical 2022 campaign; however, he checks off every box as an elite fantasy contributor even as he enters his early 30s, easily finishing within the top 10 as a result. The 6-foot-7 outfielder remains fully in his prime entering the first season of a shiny new nine-year, $360 million contract.
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