Come the end of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, Aaron Judge's 62 home runs and numerous other league-leading figures made it decidedly unnecessary to question which hitter had the best year.
Well, now it's a new year. Will Judge once again be MLB's top offensive player in 2023? Or will the mantle pass to someone else?
Now is a good time to line up the top candidates to be in consideration for the league's best on the offensive side. We've made cases for and against 10 of them, considering what they'll do not only in the batter's box, but on the bases as well.
There is, of course, a twist in such discussions this year. Courtesy of new rules that place regulations on defensive shifts and are likely to spur an increase in stolen bases by way of bigger bases, limits on pick-offs and a pitch timer, some players have more areas to make gains than others.
Let's hit on some honorable mentions before moving on to the top 10.
Honorable Mentions
2B Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
Age: 32
2022 Stats: 141 G, 604 PA, 28 HR, 18 SB, .300 AVG, .387 OBP, .533 SLG
Altuve may have gone anechoic chamber levels of quiet in last year's playoffs, but before that he had enjoyed his best regular season since his MVP-winning campaign in 2017. He does turn 33 on May 6, however, and it likewise sets off alarm bells that he ranked in the sixth percentile for exit velocity last season.
SS Wander Franco, Tampa Bay Rays
Age: 21
2022 Stats: 83 G, 344 PA, 6 HR, 8 SB, .277 AVG, .328 OBP, .417 SLG
Injuries largely ruined Franco's 2022 season, but one can still be sky-high on the guy. A good indicator of his ceiling is an 83-game stretch between July 16, 2021 and May 9, 2022 in which he struck out only 34 times, hit .320 and slugged .509. And that's not even counting when he went 7-for-19 with two home runs and two doubles in the 2021 playoffs.
1B Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals
Age: 35
2022 Stats: 151 G, 651 PA, 35 HR, 7 SB, .317 AVG, .404 OBP, .578 SLG
Goldschmidt was only the MVP of the National League last year, so this is probably where we're going to lose some people. But he will be 36 years old before this season is over, and there is some evidence to suggest that he benefited more from luck than any other everyday hitter last season. So, kindly put those tomatoes away.
3B Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
Age: 30
2022 Stats: 150 G, 644 PA, 32 HR, 9 SB, .298 AVG, .366 OBP, .531 SLG
There (probably) go still more people, as Machado was good enough last year to siphon seven first-place votes away from Goldschmidt in last year's NL MVP voting. But he's another "hmmm, maybe a little lucky" kind of guy, though even curmudgeons like us can grant that he's going to be extra motivated this year with that opt-out in his contract looming.
3B José Ramírez, Cleveland Guardians
Age: 30
2022 Stats: 157 G, 685 PA, 29 HR, 20 SB, .280 AVG, .355 OBP, .514 SLG
Ramírez has been a sure thing for roughly 30 homers and 20 steals over the last six years, and he can now look forward to benefiting from both the speed-friendly changes and the ban on shifts, which he eventually got to see over 90 percent of the time when batting lefty. In other words: yeah, we might be underestimating him.
RF Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros
Age: 26
2022 Stats: 150 G, 609 PA, 30 HR, 25 SB, .257 AVG, .330 OBP, .478 SLG
Here's your sleeper. Tucker has shown steady power in hitting 30 home runs in each of the last two seasons, and his average is due for a boost courtesy of the shift ban. As he was 25-for-29 in stolen bases despite an average sprint that was only in the 32nd percentile, he's also proved that he doesn't need great speed to be a great base stealer.