It’s the time of year, right before the season starts, where every ‘Pert feels on top of the world. Every team they’ve drafted is the best of their lives and the taeks are hawt. We’ve asked our very own Razzball ‘Perts to weigh in with only their hottest and boldest predictions for the 2022 fantasy baseball season. I looked back at last year’s Bold Predictions and outside of Grey calling his shot on Keston Hiura…we all looked pretty bad. Cold takes exposed over here. I’m just hoping that I was a year late on Jo Adell…even though I haven’t been able to snag him in any drafts yet and had him in every league last year eagerly awaiting his breakout. Anywho, let’s dive into our ‘Pert’s bold predictions for this year and see who will look silly or look like a genius come 2023. Like Donkey Teeth last year, I’ve provided my own feedback and ranked these takes from luke-warmest to the hottest of fire. The further you scroll, the hotter the take, until the takes get so hot, they actually turn to ice.
Quick note before we dive in: It’s the last call for RCLs with the very last open spot in a draft tonight at 8 PM ET. <- Click here to join!
MattTruss – This is the year Michael Kopech becomes an ace. Think…2012 Max Scherzer, right before he became a perennial Cy Young finalist. Think 180 IP, 220 Ks, low 3 ERA, and a wonky WHIP, because, let’s face it, this is still Michael Kopech.
I don’t know, being (hopefully) a year early on Adell makes me think that maybe next year is the year for Kopech, but I’m ready for the breakout. Considering his RCL ADP right now of 156, Kopech could be an absolute steal there. Maybe not the hottest of takes considering Kopech’s prospect pedigree, we’ll call it Bold Lite.
Grey – Jazz Chisholm and Cody Bellinger become platoon players.
Cody Bellinger has the swing yips. Last possible swing tweak for Cody is he starts swinging backwards. It’s all that’s left. I’d say that would at least be good for getting on base, if I had any faith he could make contact with the catcher’s mitt for an interference call. As for Jazz Chisholm, beginning to think he’s a better fantasy guy than a real-life one. Too bad, since a team that once had a giant vomiting unicorn statue in their outfield sounds like they’d be fantasy-driven but their manager isn’t George R.R. Martin.
Oy, my heart weeps for my Jazz Chisholm shares. Cody Bellinger is dead to me after last year’s debacle of a season and me drafting him in the first round all over the place, so I’m fine with Cody platooning with…Chris Taylor I guess? Sure, why not. But Jazz, don’t take away our fun! Does this mean Jon Berti is getting reps? The Marlins can’t be that dumb…oh…wait. Medium bold with a side of sad.
JKJ – Adalberto Mondesi puts up a 20/50 season.
I’m covering bullpens this year but wanted to branch out for a bold prediction. Do you recall that Adalberto Mondesi once hit 14 HR in just 291 PA? And if you extrapolate that out to 500 PA you get 24 HR? Then last year he cranks out 6 HR in just 136 PA, which would pace out to 22 HR for 500 PA. Am I cherry-picking some data here? Am I assuming a lot, expecting Mondesi to sniff 500 PA? Totes. I will also point out that he improved his SwStr% a little bit as 2021 drew to a close, exhibited 86th percentile Max Exit Velocity, and had a career-best 8.1 Brl/PA. We’ve hyped Mondesi for ages now and he’s always [mostly] wildly disappointed us. Now we have low expectations based on some “let’s put a fire under his ass” talk about limiting his games cuz management doesn’t believe he can be healthy. We’re collectively down on him and seem to think he will barely play, so of course, this will be the year Mondesi delivers and wins our hearts all over again.
How silly are we that we keep falling for the Mondesi trap? I’m such a sucker. I’ve nabbed Mondesi in a bunch of leagues already and will die on this hill with JKJ and Grey. We are planting the Mondesi fanboy flag right here. That said, it’s fairly bold to claim Mondesi will stay healthy enough to be on the field for 50 SBs. I give this jalapeno-level hotness.
Steve Paulo – Yordan Alvarez will win the Triple Crown in the AL with 45 HR, 125 RBI, and a .320 BA
Steve does his own projections and this bold call is straight from his numbers to your ears. I love me some Yordan, but I’m not quite this high on him. Love the boldness here, on a scale of one to ten, I rate this a six.
Jeremy Brewer – Jo Adell will go 30/30 this season en route to a Top 10 OF ranking.
A man after my own heart. I’m all in on Adell here with Jeremy. I’ll give this take a rating of 102.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
EverywhereBlair – Jorge Soler finishes in the top 20 outfielders.
Soler is drafted 188th overall at NFBC, and here’s his Razzball pre-season rank by author: Grey: OF56, Rudy: OF30, Coolwhip: OF60. Yowza! Clearly, Rudy sees something everybody else doesn’t, and that’s probably the fact that Soler had one of the largest xSLG/SLG discrepancies in the majors last year. He had the 6th highest exit velocity, too (that’s Soler, not Rudy). Let’s not forget that since 2019, Soler has more HR than Freddie Freeman, Rafael Devers, Ronald Acuna Jr., Jose Abreu, Aaron Judge…the list goes on. Bienvenidos a Miami, Jorge!
Well then, we asked for bold and this is up there, but Blair makes an incredibly compelling case here and now I’m rethinking all my Soler rankings and wondering why I have drafted him exactly zero times this draft season. Blair has sent me on an existential journey of self-reflection and I rank this take at 823,000 SHUs.
B_Don – Adalberto Mondesi plays 140+ games and goes 20/60.
Well, we are nothing if not Adalberto fanboys around the Razzball water cooler, huh? There are gonna be so many tears when Mondesi pops a hammy, so many tears. If JKJ got a jalapeno, B_Don gets a habanero!
Keelinbillue – Contrary to everything I have advised in “Ambulance Chasers”, George Springer will return to his 2019 form.
Oh no, nope, not happening, not falling for this again. Fool me once, twice, thrice, nope, nuh uh. I give this take a Razzball teeshirt runway sashay level of heat.
Son – Mike Yastrzemski will be a top 75 player.
Last season, he struggled mightily to the tune of a .224/.311/.457 slash. The BABIP was a paltry .254 compared to .370 and .325 during the prior two seasons. Most of his issues came against left-handed pitching. The slash was .170/.254/.259 with a .089 ISO but he got hit by a pitch during spring training by Sean Manaea and was never the same after that. His career slash against lefties is .249/.328/.444 with a .195 ISO. He will bat leadoff, should accrue close to 600 plate appearances, and have an ISO above .200. He hit 25 home runs last season despite the struggles and stole 4 bases. He hit .297 and .272 in the prior two seasons so there’s upside for more.
I can get behind this too and given Yaz’s RCL ADP of 276, I’m already picturing a fine 5th outfielder. My dream OF of Acuna, Tyler O’Neill, Seiya Suzuki, Jo Adell with a side of Yaz doesn’t sound too shabby. I’d say a player outperforming their ADP by 200 spots is pretty dang bold, like pure capsaicin.
Coolwhip – Seiya Suzuki will have a better rookie season than Shohei Ohtani, win the NL ROY, and a gold glove.
Hmm, Ohtani knocked 22 dingers, stole 10 bases, hit .285 and pitched 10 games, winning 4 and striking out 63 in 51.2 IP his rookie year, so what would Seiya need to beat that? 30 Homers and 15 steals while batting .290 maybe? I’m aboard the Seiya hype train, but I don’t know. 25/10/.280 would make me happy, but I don’t know that that qualifies as a better season that Ohtani’s rookie year. This might be our boldest take yet, I give this one 10 flaming hot Cheetos smothered in Fire Sauce, topped with diced ghost peppers.
