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Ranking the top 25 players in the National League East for 2023
The 2023 Major League Baseball season gets underway in just under two months now, and the National League East is infused with so much talent that will make the division one of the areas to watch around the league this season, which will pose challenges for the New York Mets.
The division this year has two teams coming off 100+ win seasons, another coming off a surprise run to the World Series, the American and National League Cy Young winners and batting champions from last year, and a surplus of marquee stars. These teams will be the subject of many national broadcasts, and you can argue three of the four or five best teams in the National League come from the East.
We knew there were going to be some brutal exclusions from this list because three teams have such deep rosters that it was impossible to include all the impact players from around the division. Nonetheless, here are the top 25 players in the NL East for the 2023 season.
25. Joey Meneses, Washington Nationals
Joey Meneses was the most exciting player on the Nationals the last two months of the season, hitting .324 with 13 home runs and a .930 OPS in 240 plate appearances. He made his MLB debut in August after spending more than a decade in the minors with four organizations before he broke through last summer in an underrated feel-good story. He is projected to be the Nats' best hitter in 2023, is primed for a 30-home run season, and could play spoiler for opponents in pennant races.
24. Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia Phillies
Hoskins is coming off a year where he hit 30 home runs in the regular season and six more in the playoffs, including four in the team's NLCS win over San Diego. Hoskins has had an OPS+ of 120 or better in five of his six seasons in the majors, and provides needed protection in the lineup for the team's other star sluggers.
23. Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Schwarber goes into the 2023 season as the defending NL home run champion, as he hit 46 of them during the regular season and six more in the playoffs. Schwarber will be tasked with being the team's most reliable source of home run power at least for the first half of this season as Bryce Harper is recovering from surgery. But when Schwarber is hot, he is the most immovable object in baseball. But he did hit just .218 last year and struck out a major league high 200 times last year.
22. Starling Marte, New York Mets
Marte had a marvelous first campaign in Flushing last year as a dynamic all-around player, batting .292 with 16 home runs and 18 stolen bases and was named to his second career All-Star team. Marte will help set the tables for a strong New York lineup from the No. 2 spot in the lineup again this season.
21. Luis Arraez, Miami Marlins
The Marlins acquired 2022 AL batting champ Luis Arraez in a big trade with the Minnesota Twins on January 20 and he becomes the team's best leadoff hitter since Hanley Ramirez. He is one of the best contact hitters in baseball and has more walks in his four-year career than strikeouts, and was the toughest hitter to strike out in baseball last year, averaging 12.7 at-bats per strikeout. His strengths will play brilliantly into spacious loanDepot Park in Miami.
20. Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies
Wheeler has been one of the top starting pitchers in the sport since he arrived in Philadelphia three years ago. He has a 2.82 ERA in 437.1 innings pitched with a 4.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio as a Phillie, and his fWAR of 13.3 ranks second among all major league pitchers since 2020. Wheeler forms a strong one-two punch atop Philadelphia's rotation alongside Aaron Nola and was sensational in the NLCS against the Padres as he begins his fourth year of a five-year contract that has been worth it.
19. Jazz Chisholm, Jr., Miami Marlins
Off-the-field antics aside, Chisholm was the Marlins' most exciting position player last year, as he was on pace for a 30-30 season before a lower back strain ended his season in June. Now, he'll be the team's starting center fielder in his age-25 season and return his game-changing speed and power combination that few players in baseball can match. Also, the native Bahamian is on the cover of MLB The Show 23.
18. Spencer Strider, Atlanta Braves
Strider was the runner-up to Braves teammate Michael Harris for NL Rookie of the Year honors last season, and it was for good measure. He was excellent since Brian Snitker put him in the rotation, as his 98 mph average fastball overpowered the league. He went 11-5 in 31 games (20 starts) with a 2.67 ERA, andd struck out 202 batters in just 131.2 innings in his rookie season, and was a key contributor to Atlanta's run to their fifth straight NL East title last summer.
17. Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies
Harper's placement on this list was the toughest because he isn't expected back in the Phillies lineup until just before the All-Star break, though Phillies fans tell me it'll be earlier than that. If his elbow wasn't an issue this season, he would have been ranked significantly higher than this because he is a beast and a generational talent. His arrival in Philadelphia four years ago changed the the franchise, and he delivered the signature moment of his career to date in October with his pennant-winning home run that propelled the team to a stunning World Series appearance.
16. Max Fried, Atlanta Braves
Fried showed everybody last year why he is a true ace and Braves fans can't be any more thankful that he is in a Braves uniform. The best thing about him was his consistency. He pitched 5 innings or more in all 30 starts he made last season, and allowed 5 runs or more just once, and that was on Opening Day. He finished 2nd in the NL Cy Young balloting last year with a 2.48 ERA in 185.1 innings pitched last year. Fried is in line to get another Opening Day start in 2023.
15. Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves
Harris was another Alex Anthopoulos special last season, as his call up in May changed the energy and feel about the Braves last year and took it to National League Rookie of the Year honors. He posted a 5.3 WAR in four months, with a .297 batting average, 49 extra-base hits and played excellent center field defense at Truist Park, posting a +8 defensive runs saved, reminding Braves fans of Andruw Jones patroling the outfields of Fulton County Stadium and Turner Field in the 1990s and 2000s.
14. Jeff McNeil, New York Mets
Jeff McNeil is coming off the best season of his career where he led the majors with a .326 batting average and finish the season piping hot. McNeil became the second Met to win the National League batting title (Jose Reyes in 2011) with a four-year contract extension in which he won't have to deal with arbitration anymore. McNeil is primed for another big year protecting Pete Alonso in a deep Mets lineup.
13. Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies
In a league that has grown quite difficult for pitchers to throw complete games, Nola has five of them since 2020, including three shutouts (most in the majors). His 6.09 strikeout-to-walk ratio in that span also ranks first among qualified starters. He is that reliable and efficient. Barring anything unforseen, Nola will become the fourth pitcher in Phillies history to make six Opening Day starts, joining Chris Short, Robin Roberts, and Steve Carlton. Nola is set to receive a massive pay day from somebody in the next 12 months, as he is up for free agency at the end of the year.
12. Brandon Nimmo, New York Mets
The Mets recognized Nimmo's value to the Mets as a center fielder and as an on-base of a leadoff hitter this winter by handing him an 8-year, $162 million deal that will make him a Met for life. The Mets offense is such a functional unit when Nimmo is in the lineup and producing. Nimmo has a career .385 on-base percentage and a 130 OPS+. He's also played strong center field defense the last two years, adding to his value and solving the team's previous center field woes.
11. Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves
Matt Olson proved to be a strong replacement for Freddie Freeman last year, as he helped his hometown Braves slug past the Mets in the division. Three of his 34 home runs last season came in that crucial three-game sweep at Truist Park the final weekend of the season, and hit home runs in big spots throughout the season. He is a streaky hitter, though.
10. Max Scherzer, New York Mets
Scherzer's arrival changed the attitude of the Mets franchise from one that hopes to be special to one that is expected to be elite. Mad Max posted a career-best 2.29 ERA and was tremendous during the regular season, but it included two stints on the injured list, in which the Mets played their worst baseball of the season. His inaugural Mets campaign ended on a whimper with a disastrous Wild Card start, allowing four home runs and didn't get out of the fifth inning. But great as he was last year when healthy, it is not guaranteed he gets an Opening Day start, thanks to Steve Cohen's deep pockets.
9. Edwin Diaz, New York Mets
Edwin Diaz is the best reliever in baseball, and was the only reliever in the division that was considered for this list. Timmy Trumpet's noise at Citi Field usually meant game over for the opponents, and he overwhelmed his opposition in the process, striking out more than half of the batters he faced, and had a 1.31 ERA. As a result of his dominance, the Mets went a full year without losing a game when leading after eight innings this year (89-0) for the first time in team history. Diaz's dominance allowed Buck Showalter to shorten his games.
8. Justin Verlander, New York Mets
Verlander was the best pitcher in baseball in 2022, going 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA and a 0.829 WHIP, the latter two were the best in the majors, and picked up his third American League Cy Young award in the process. Now, he joins his former Detroit Tigers teammate and fellow future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer in Flushing to form as good a one-two punch in a starting rotation as there is.
7. Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves
Riley has been the Braves' best hitter in each of the past two seasons, and figures to be the same this year. He had at least 30 home runs, 30 doubles, 90 RBI's, 90 runs scored, a .500 slugging percentage, a 135 OPS+, and a top-7 MVP finish in both 2021 and 2022. A repeat performance in 2023 will go a long way in aiding the Braves' chances to win the division for the sixth straight time.
6. J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia Phillies
Lost in the shuffle in the Phillies' run to the World Series last year was Realmuto proving why he gets paid $23 million per season as a catcher. Realmuto is coming off the best season of his career, he won a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, finished seventh in the NL MVP voting, boasted a career-high OPS+ of 129, and led the majors in caught stealing rate of 44 percent. He remains the best catcher in baseball entering his age-32 season.
5. Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins
Alcantara became the first pitcher in Marlins history to win the Cy Young Award thanks to his incredible 2022 season. He led the majors with 228.2 innings pitched and six complete games. Furthermore, he threw at least seven innings in 22 of his 32 starts, including a stretch of 13 in a row, and at least eight in 14 of them, and had a 2.28 ERA as well. Now with an improved Marlins offense and less exposure to the scary NL East lineups, could he be a 20-game winner this season?
4. Pete Alonso, New York Mets
Alonso transitioned to a more polished slugger last season, and it paid off in big way. He registered his second career 40 home run season and he led the majors with 131 RBI's, setting the Mets' single season mark in the process. He also cut down on his strikeouts and his chase rates over his career, and figures to be a key piece of the Mets' long-term future and will be the Mets' big power source once again in 2023.
3. Ronald Acuna, Jr., Atlanta Braves
Acuna is a dynamic player that is now 18 months removed from a torn ACL injury. But he returned and showed a deadly combo of power and speed that'll figure into a big 2023 season. He has placed balls into orbit in the Venezuelan league this offseason, signaling that a home run outage from 2022 was a blip and not a trend, and figures to be a major problem for opposing pitchers and defenses in 2023.
2. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
Lindor played like a complete player with the Mets last year and it resembled that of the play that made him a superstar in Cleveland. Lindor has been sure-handed at shortstop and makes everyone else around him better both on offense and defense. Lindor also was big in key spots, as he drove in 107 runs, third most in the NL.
1. Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies
Turner is an absolute gem of a player. Phillies fans will come to adore him over the next decade. He can hit for contact (.302 career hitter), he can run the bases (230 career stolen bases), and will score a lot of runs (3 seasons of 100+ runs scored). He solves some of the issues with the Phillies roster as they now have an impact leadoff hitter, allowing Kyle Schwarber to hit more often with men on base, a true base stealer, and a franchise shortstop, a position that was a revolving door a year ago in Philadelphia.
dark. Next. 3 players who turned down money from Steve Cohen