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Manny Machado 2022 Player Outlook: Better Things To Come After Strong Season
San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado's 2021 wasn't as impressive as his shortened 2020, but he still gave fantasy managers good offense, slashing .278/.347/.489 with 28 HRs, 12 SBs, 106 RBI, and 92 runs across 153 games. He should have been even better, placing in at least the 84th percentile for Barrel%, average exit velocity, and HardHit%, as well as posting the best max exit velocity in baseball at 119.6 MPH, leading to a .294 xBA and nearly 32 xHR. Additionally, even with the power, Machado's one of the better contact hitters in the game, striking out 15.9% of the time and has never punched out more than 19.4% in a season. He'll never live up to the production of 2020 when he hit .304, and 20.5% of his fly balls left the park, but will almost certainly hit north of 30 HRs, and he's not going to hurt the batting average, easily capable of hitting .285. Machado's shown mixed results in stolen bases and has just 36th percentile sprint speed, so it's hard to predict how much he's going to run. However, batting in a Padres lineup that should rebound from a disappointing 2021, he'll maintain, if not improve, his RBI and run numbers. Machado won't last long in drafts with his ADP of 24, but that's a good range for a player of his caliber, especially at the shallow third base position.
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