Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins
When Major League Baseball started bringing Statcast into the equation, nobody proved how impressive this measuring system was until Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton stepped up to the plate (no pun intended.)
Last year he launched the hardest-hit ball ever recorded by Statcast with an exit velocity of 123.9 mph. This was him beating out his previous record, because that’s what he does.
The three-time All-Star has a had a league-leading slugging-percentage twice in his career. And even though he regressed a bit last season, it doesn’t mean he won’t have a phenomenal outing this time around, because he will.
FanGraphs Steamer has the 27-year-old set to slash a .268/.363/.557 line with a jump in home run numbers. For now, we wait and see, but don’t bet against him topping those numbers, either.