3 years agoIn 2021, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor had, arguably, the worst season of his career. He posted a .230/.322/.412 slash line to go with 20 home runs, 63 RBI, and just 10 stolen bases over 452 at-bats. Perhaps the pressure of playing for a new team, in a new league, coupled with a record-setting $341 million contract placed too much pressure on him. Lindor also dealt with an oblique injury in mid-June which kept him sidelined for over a month just as his bat was beginning to heat up after a poor April and May. Once he returned in late July, Lindor's bat finally got hot toward the end of the 2021 campaign, despite recovering from the lingering oblique injury. In September, Lindor posted a .267/.359/.574 slash line, with nine HR and 25 RBI over 117 plate appearances. Despite poor overall numbers, Lindor boasted solid underlying metrics in 2021. These included a 44.1% hard-hit rate (the highest of his career) and an overall exit velocity of 90.7 mph (the second-highest of his career). He also posted walk and strikeout rates in the top 30% in all of MLB, an xBA of .253, and an EV on FB/LD of 94 mph (tied with Carlos Correa and Marcus Semien). These numbers, combined with his strong 2021 finish, as well as Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo hitting in front of him in the revamped Mets batting order, all point to positive regression in batting average, slugging percentage, HR, and RBI totals for 2022. A career .278/.343/.821 hitter, Lindor is poised to bounce back and exceed his current ADP of 49 as a top-20, five-category fantasy asset in 2022.--Nick Ritrivi - RotoBaller