Must have players. Every year there are a handful of players that are deemed “must have”. There is a good reason for it. I enter a draft trying to plan around building for said players. Here are a few of my “must-have” players to target in 2023.
Must-Have Players (2023 Fantasy Baseball)
Here are the players that are Mike Kurland’s must-have guys this season.
Must have players. Every year there are a handful of players that are deemed “must have”. There is a good reason for it. I enter a draft trying to plan around building for said players. Here are a few of my “must-have” players to target in 2023.
Must-Have Players (2023 Fantasy Baseball)
Here are the players that are Mike Kurland’s must-have guys this season.
If there is anyone who could take a big step forward and be a top two round pick in 2024 it is Eloy Jimenez. Hear me out… I know he is injury prone. But in terms of skill set, he could be similar to Yordan Alvarez, Pete Alonso, or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. It is that level of production potential here and we saw it in the second half of 2022:
- .323/.391/.558
- .235 ISO
- .406 wOBA
- 169 wRC+
Jimenez posted underlying elite power and quality of contact.
- 91st percentile max exit velocity
- 54.9% HH%
- 14.7% barrel%
This came with improved plate discipline and contact rates. The production and health all came together. Health has been a question and issue but he landed in the DH role for a large part of the second half, something that could carry over into 2023.
You will be hard-pressed to find someone not excited about Lars Nootbaar this season. He flashed the power potential last season by posting a max exit velocity in the 89th percentile (113 mph) and hard hit rate in the 80th percentile (46%). Not to mention he limits swing-and-miss and barreled the ball a ton. With a 12.1% Barrel% which was good enough to be in the 85th percentile.
Nootbaar managed to walk at a 14.7% clip. This placed him among the top 2% of the league. ELITE walk rate here. He managed to have an above-average contact rate while being uber-selective at the plate. It is an impressive skill that he flashes. Lastly, he is likely to begin the year as the leadoff hitter against RHP. A trend we saw start in the second half and carry into the short stint of the playoffs. Getting that path to added plate appearances atop one of the better lineups in baseball is just the cherry on top at this point.
News of Miguel Vargas getting a shot at starting at second base for the Dodgers solidified him as a target of mine in drafts. I already had a few early shares but now he is someone I target for sure in each draft. A lot of potential here. The only issue for me is the fact that he is stuck at the bottom of the order. That will limit his upside but there are still skills worth targeting here. It does not hurt that he will gain eligibility at second base early on in the year as well.
There really is a lot to like about Jesus Luzardo entering 2023. At just 25-years-old he is entering his prime and we saw him take a massive step forward last year. In his first full season with the Miami Marlins, Luzardo posted a 3.32 ERA with underlying metrics suggesting it was earned:
- 3.39 xERA
- 3.12 FIP
- 3.11 xFIP
- 3.28 SIERA
He also posted an above average K-BB% of 21.3% and did all this with a BABIP of .256 and a LOB% of just 71.7%. Essentially the results lacked any factor of luck being involved. The success came on the back of a pitch mix last year where we saw more curveballs and changeups and less fastballs. Something we often see pitchers turn to in today’s game. The slight uptick in velocity last year was a nice added bonus.
Something of note: An injury limited him to just 100.1 IP last year. This comes with a career high of 124.1 IP in 2021. So realistically expecting around 150 IP seems fair and will cap the overall potential in the process. That is factored into the current ADP. You should not be too concerned about the health as he returned from injury and finished off the season pitching at least six innings in eight of the final nine games of the year. We also saw the velocity inch back up closer to what he was throwing pre-injury.
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