25 under-the-radar MLB players who will break out in 2022

 Expectations are always high in the Bronx, and 2022 will be no different. Competing in the difficult AL East, though, will be more challenging than ever. Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto are all legitimate threats to make a deep postseason run, and for the Yankees to keep up they'll have to get a surprise contribution or two. Enter funky southpaw, Nestor Cortes. The 27-year-old made 22 appearances for the Yankees in '21 (14 of which were starts) and was a revelation for a team in need of help on the mound. In 93 innings Cortes struck out 103 hitters, delivered a 2.90 ERA, had a 1.08 WHIP, and held the opposition to a .217 batting average. Entering 2022 his spot in the Yankees' rotation is written in pen, and New York will need him to prove last season wasn't a fluke. 

When Tampa Bay traded ace left hander Blake Snell to the Padres after the 2020 season it raised eyebrows around the league. But the Rays very rarely lose trades, and the verdict is very much still out on this one. The guy who could swing the transaction emphatically in Tampa Bay's favor is righty Luis Patino, the centerpiece of the return. Patino breezed through the minors, posting a 2.43 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP in 55 minor league starts, while striking out 320 hitters in 263.1 frames. He's found success harder to come by in 94.2 Major League innings, but we're talking about a pitcher that is still only 22-years-old. He'll figure it out at the sport's highest level, and when he does, the rest of the AL East could be in trouble. 

Righty Alek Manoah was the 11th overall pick in the '19 draft, and while he's not under the radar to fans in the northeast who see the Blue Jays a lot, on the national level he's far from a household name. Yet. As a rookie last season Manoah was brilliant, going 9-2 with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. Opposing hitters managed just a .192 batting average against him and he blew away 127 hitters in only 111.2 innings. Toronto expects to be one of the better teams in the AL this season, and they're extremely excited to see what Manoah can do for an encore. 

Nicky Lopez had been a useful utility man for Kansas City the first two seasons of his career, but in 2021 he proved he was capable of far more than that. Participating in all but 11 of the Royals games, Lopez slashed .300/.365/.378 with 21 doubles, six triples, and 22 steals. He can play second base, third base, and shortstop, and while he might bounce around a little bit, the Royals will make sure he's in the line-up and helping to set up scoring rallies. 

The Tigers think they have a chance to be sneaky competitive, and to do so they'll need breakout contributions from several different places, beginning with the rotation. Young lefty Tarik Skubal stands out as someone potentially capable of making a big leap in 2022. Last season the Hayward, CA native pitched to a 4.34 ERA with a 1.26 WHIP in 149.1 innings, while striking out 9.88 hitters/9 innings. Skubal was hurt badly by the home run ball, serving up 35 long balls--only two pitchers allowed more. If he can do a better job of keeping the ball in the ballpark in 2022 his numbers should come down across the board, and help him turn in the season both he and the Tigers are looking for. 

Power hitting Andrew Vaughn was the 3rd overall pick in the 2019 draft coming out of the University of California, and the White Sox fast-tracked his bat to the Major Leagues last opening day. Two separate stints on the injured list held him back a little, but Vaughn had no trouble showcasing the offensive potential that made him such a highly thought of prospect. In 417 at-bats he hit just .235 but he crushed 15 homers and racked up 22 doubles while driving in 48 runs and registering a .705 OPS. The elephant in the room was his 101 strikeouts, and if he can make better contact moving forward, the sky is the limit. 

Speaking of White Sox players fast-tracked to the Major Leagues. Chicago took left-handed reliever Garrett Crochet 11th overall in 2020, and he was pitching in the big leagues later that fall. Last year marked the first full big league season for the former Tennessee Volunteer, and he did not disappoint. In 54 appearances he finished with a 2.82 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP while notching 14 holds, striking out 65 hitters, and holding the other team to just a .213 batting average. Crochet is still just 22-years-old, and he projects as every bit of dominant lockdown closer in the near future. 

The Twins have long been emphatic about not trading Alex Kirilloff, whom many teams have asked about in preliminary trade discussions in recent years. The young outfielder's .318/.366/.503 minor league slash line provides a glimpse into the player Minnesota thinks they have, and his Major League cup of coffee down the stretch a year ago did not disappoint. Heading into 2022 the Twins will give the 24-year-old every opportunity to blossom into the star they believe he can be, and in just a few months he could be a known commodity in baseball cities across the country. 

Second-generation big leaguer Cal Quantrill was one of the primary components headed back to Cleveland in the deal that sent righty Mike Clevinger to San Diego in August of 2020. Quantrill began last season in the Guardians' bullpen, but by June had become a fixture in their rotation, a place he's going to stay for the long haul now. In 149.2 total innings in '21, the Stanford graduate finished with an impressive 2.89 ERA to go along with a 1.18 WHIP. He does not strike out as many hitters as most front-end starters, but Quantrill is a groundball machine, and induced 18 double play balls a season ago. 

Another young member of the Guardians in search of a breakthrough in 2021 is second baseman Andres Gimenez, who has been knocking on the door for a while. Gimenez came to Cleveland as part of the package the Mets sent west to acquire star shortstop Francisco Lindor, and he's one of the most gifted defensive players in the sport. His bat has been slower to arrive, as he's slashed just .235/.302/.369 in 117 Major League games, but he has a ceiling of a strong contact hitter who can use his speed to wreak havoc on the bases. The Guardians are hoping to begin seeing some of that come to fruition in the upcoming weeks and months. 

Big Nate Lowe had played sparingly for Tampa Bay the first two seasons of his career, but he got his first chance to be a regular in Texas last year and really took advantage of it. Playing in 157 of the Rangers' games, Lowe slashed .264/.357/.415 with 18 homers and 72 RBI. He added 24 doubles, scored 75 runs, and worked out 82 bases on balls. And he did all of this on a team that won only 60 games. The Rangers should be dramatically better in 2022 after adding stars Corey Seager and Marcus Semien to their everyday line-up, and that should lead to more run-producing opportunities for Lowe. Don't be surprised if he puts up huge numbers. 

Righty Chris Flexen made 27 appearances for the Mets between '17-'19 and most of the time looked like a guy who didn't belong in the Major Leagues. The best ERA he posted in any individual season was an ugly 6.59, leading to him heading to Korea to try to reinvent himself during the COVID season of 2020. And he must have figured something out. Flexen returned stateside as a member of the Mariners in '21 and looked like a completely different pitcher. In 31 starts he delivered a 3.61 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP in 179.2 innings, and he'll look to build on that in 2022 and beyond. 

Cristian Pache was not only one of the Braves' top prospects, but the speedy 23-year-old was expected to man center field in Atlanta on opening day. Things change in a hurry. Just a couple of weeks ago the Braves sent four promising young prospects--including Pache-- to Oakland to bring the A's all-star first baseman, Matt Olson, to Georgia. Pache was a dynamic offensive player in Atlanta's minor league system, and while he's only hit .119 in the big leagues--it's been a small 67 at-bat sample size. He'll get a legitimate opportunity in Oakland to prove he belongs. 

Outfielder Chas McCormick was not much of a prospect early in his career, and as is the case with any 21st round pick, he had to earn every opportunity given to him. A steady minor league career landed him in the big leagues in 2021, and he took full advantage. In 284 at-bats for the Astros McCormick slashed .257/.319/.447 with 14 homers and 50 RBI. He's now going to play center field every day in Houston, and he could very well be the next Astros' name you should know. 

Mets' left-handed slugger Dom Smith enjoyed a tremendous pandemics shortened 2020 season that watched him finish with a sensational .993 OPS, but last year was a completely different story. Playing virtually every day for New York, Smith managed just a .244/.304/.363 slash line while his power evaporated--his 2021 OPS sunk all the way to .667. It sounds like there was a reason for that. Smith revealed in spring training that he played most of last season with a partially torn labrum that limited his ability to follow through on his swing. He's off to an excellent start in Grapefruit League play, and if he can translate that into the regular season it would be a real boon for the Mets' offense. 

The blockbuster trade that landed superstars Max Scherzer and Trea Turner in Los Angeles last summer appeared to shift the balance of power in the National League--at least until October when the Braves defeated the Dodgers in the NLCS. But to acquire players of that ilk you need to give up serious prospect capital, and that's exactly what the Dodgers had to send the Nationals. Josiah Gray was the top pitching prospect in the LA system, dominating to the tune of a 2.41 ERA in 40 minor league starts. Washington is currently a team in transition, and the righty will get every opportunity to break through at the sport's highest level. 

The consensus among most MLB prognosticators is that the Phillies have assembled a dynamic offense capable of scoring with anyone, but lack the pitching to be serious threats. Lefty Ranger Suarez has the potential to change that notion in a hurry. The veteran began last season in Philadelphia's bullpen but really thrived after shifting to the rotation down the stretch. In 12 starts he pitched to a 1.51 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP, while striking out almost exactly a batter/inning. Those types of numbers are going to be very difficult to duplicate, but if he can even come close, watch out for the Phillies. 

The Cardinals are loaded with household names like Nolan Arenado, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, and Paul Goldschmidt. But their young second baseman is someone you should start paying more attention to. In a lot of ways, switch-hitting Tommy Edman is the igniter of this offensive attack. Playing in all but three of the Redbirds games in '21, Edman hit .262 with 11 homers and 56 RBI, while also doubling 41 times and swiping 30 bases. He was a .286 career hitter in the minors and the Cardinals believe the Stanford product has not yet come close to realizing his full potential. 

The Reds made catcher Tyler Stephenson the 11th overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft, and in his first full Major League season, the 25-year-old showed why. In 350 rookie at-bats, Stephenson hit .286 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI while adding 21 doubles and reaching base at a strong .366 clip. Defensively he did not make a single error behind the plate, and while he gunned down only 8/42 would-be base-stealers, he has a strong arm, and Cincinnati thinks that percentage will improve moving forward. 

Not many players get to experience what it's like to captivate an entire city and become an instant folk hero, but that's exactly what started to happen with Frank Schwindel and Chicago down the stretch in 2021. Schwindel was designated for assignment by the A's last summer before being picked up by the Cubs, and Chicago brought him to the big leagues at the end of July. Nobody could have foreseen what came next. In 56 games for Chicago Schwindel slashed .342/.389/.613 with a 1.002 OPS. He blasted 13 homers, drove in 40 runs, doubled 19 times, and scored 42 runs. Heading into '22 the first base job at Wrigley Field is his and his alone, and it's up to him to prove his out of nowhere dominance was not a fluke. 

The Pirates are going to have a tough time staying competitive in the National League Central this season, and the primary objective for them should be identifying players they can build around in the future. And they are exceedingly confident that one such player is their young shortstop, Oneil Cruz. In 68 games the 23-year-old slashed a phenomenal .310/.375/.594 with 17 home runs and 47 RBI in the minor leagues last season, while also swiping 19 bases and doubling 16 times. Pittsburgh is currently trying to decide if he's going to start the 2022 campaign in the big leagues or not, but even if he doesn't, he'll be here soon.  

Lefty Austin Gomber was part of the return the Rockies brought back from St. Louis in the Nolan Arenado trade, and while his first full season in Denver was a little up and down, he showed enough potential to have Colorado excited about his future. In 23 starts the Florida Atlantic product went 9-9 with a 4.53 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP, while impressively holding opposing hitters to a .232 batting average and striking out almost exactly a batter/inning. Finding and developing frontline starting pitchers has always been a challenge for the Rockies given their geography, and Gomber is the latest arm they're hopeful can take the next step. 

Trent Grisham's monster minor league season in 2019 had the Brewers believing he could be a future star in Milwaukee. A high-profile defensive blunder in the playoffs later that October, though, may or may have played a role in the Brew Crew sending him to San Diego in a semi-blockbuster trade that offseason. With the Padres Grisham has been good but not great, and at 25-years-old we're still waiting for his breakout. He did rack up 46 extra-base hits in 462 at-bats a year ago, and if he can improve upon his .242/.327/.413 slash line he could morph into an all-star type player overnight. 

The Diamondbacks selected left-handed swinging outfielder Pavin Smith #7 overall in the 2017 draft, and while it took him a few years to make it to the big leagues--thanks in large part to losing the 2020 minor league season to the pandemic--he's here now. As a rookie in '21 Smith was one of the lone bright spots on a bad Arizona team, slashing .267/.328/.404 in 498 at-bats. He added 11 homers, 49 RBI, and 27 doubles, and the Diamondbacks will hope he's only scratched the surface of what he can ultimately become. 

The Giants weren't necessarily expecting Buster Posey to retire this winter, but they've been prepared for the possibility of a future without their future Hall-of-Fame catcher for a while. San Francisco selected Georgia Tech product Joey Bart #2 overall four years ago and it was only a matter of time before the starting catcher's role in San Francisco was going to be his. Bart crushed 39 home runs and drove in 134 runs in 197 minor league games. The Giants fully expect him to hit at the big league level, and while it might not happen right away, they're confident the 25-year-old can develop into the type of perennial all-star his predecessor was.